5.

Agriculture

Definition:

-Agriculture means cultivation of land

-In wider terms, Agriculture is the science and art of raising crops, rearing
of livestock, forestry and fishing

How did ancient civilisations developed along river valleys?

-Earlier, human beings were dependent upon food gathering, hunting and
fishing for their survival
-Gradually, they started growing crops along the river valleys which led
to the beginning of agriculture
-this helped ancient civilisations to develop along river valleys

Importance of Agriculture:

-It is a major occupation of people in the developing countries of the

world
-India is an agricultural country. Hence, it is the backbone of our
country’s economic development
-Agriculture not only supplies food to the people but also created huge
market for tractors, threshers, harvesters, fertilisers, pesticides and other
industrial products
-It helps in providing employment, eradicating poverty, enhancing trade
and earning foreign exchange
-It also plays an important role in strengthening global relations by
encouraging international trade of agricultural products

Factors affecting agriculture:

1) Physical/ Geographical Factors:

Relief, Climate and Soil

-Relief:
1. Plains are more suitable for agriculture than the highlands. Density of
population is generally is high in plains. This helps in providing cheap
labour and market for farm products
2. It becomes easier to use modern equipment on plain regions, whereas it
is difficult to use machines on rugged topography
3. The river basins and deltas are more suitable for agriculture than
mountainous regions
-Climate:
1. Agriculture is highly sensitive to climate variability. Each crop has it
sown requirement of temperature and rainfall
2. For example, wheat is a crop of temperate region and rice grows well
in tropical regions
3. Growing season is long in equatorial and tropical regions as compared
to the same in temperate regions.

-Soil:
1. Soil rich in minerals and organic matters support agriculture
2. Each crop has its own requirement of soil
3. Alluvial soil and black soil are the most fertile soils for agriculture

2) Economic Factors:
Size of land holding, Labour and Capital

-Size of land holding:

1. The size of farms affects the agricultural pattern and the yield per unit
hectare
2. In the densely populated areas of developing countries, the farm size is
generally very small due to growing rural population and the law of
succession which leads to fragmentation of land
3. The small fields are mostly not economical

-Labour:
1. The availability of labour has great influence on cropping pattern of a
region. The labour requirements varies with different crops
2. In many parts of India, seasonal unemployment exists in rural areas,
whereas during the periods of sowing and harvesting, there could be
shortage of labour
3. The farmers of Punjab greatly depend on migrant labourers for
growing wheat and rice crops

-Capital:
1. All agricultural inputs, like the HVY seeds, means of irrigation,
fertilisers, pesticides, hiring labour, machines, land lease, fodder, fuel,
power and veterinary services require capital
2. The cultivation of commercial crops using new technologies requires
more capital than required in the traditional way of cultivation
HYV seeds:
-HYV seeds stand for High Yield Variety seeds
-These seeds were developed by scientists to improve food supplies and
reduce famine in developing countries
-They can produce up to ten times more crops than regular seeds on the
same area of land
-They have shorter life cycle and enable the farmers to practise multiple
cropping

Types of Agriculture:
Agriculture may be broadly divided into two categories;
Subsistence and Commercial

1) Subsistence Agriculture:
-It is the earliest type of farming which is carried out at a small scale by a
farmer to grow food for personal or community consumption
-In this type of agriculture farmers grow a wide range of crops based on
the anticipated needs of their families or the community
-This type of agriculture is common in less developed parts of the world
-Subsistence agriculture includes Nomadic herding, Shifting agriculture
and Intensive subsistence agriculture

-Nomadic herding:
1. People migrate along with their animals from one place to another in
search of fodder for their animals.
2. Generally, they rear cattle, sheep, goats, camels and yaks for milk,
skin, meat and wool.
3. It is common in parts of central and western Asia east and southwest
Africa and northern Eurasia.
4. In India, Bhotiyas and Gujjars Are the nomadic tribes of Himalayas.

-Shifting agriculture:
1. Shifting agriculture is also called as slash and burn agriculture
2. After the soil loses its fertility the land is abandoned on the cultivators
move to a new plot
3. People cultivate the land with simple tools. Per hector yield is low.
People who follow shifting agriculture do not lead a settled life.
4. It is prevalent in dense forests of tropical Africa Southeast Asia and
some parts of northeast India.
5. Crops like cassava, maize, sweet potato and tapioca are grown in this
type of farming.
-Intensive subsistence agriculture:
1.This type of agriculture is characterized by higher output per unit of
land.
2. It is mostly practiced in thickly populated monsoon regions of South,
Southeast and East Asia
3. There is intensive use of land, multiple cropping, heavy use of manual
labour, but a little use of farm machinery and variety of manures and
fertilisers.
4. The countries like China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Philippines
and Taiwan have adopted improved system of intensive agriculture.

2) Commercial agriculture:
-Commercial agriculture is typically done on a very large scale with the
purpose of selling the produce in the market to make profits
-Therefore farmers select and so a single crop according to the natural
(geographical) And market conditions of the region
-It is a specialized form of agriculture which is practiced on very large
size farms in developed regions of the world. It is also called crop
specialisation
-This type of agriculture is broadly divided into extensive agriculture,
plantation agriculture, livestock ranching and dairy farming

-Extensive agriculture:
1.Agriculture is done on a large scale on big land holdings by using
modern machines
2.It is generally practiced in sparsely populated regions, where land is
available in abundance and the input of labour is less
3.Total production is large but per hectare yield is comparatively less.
Proper storage facilities are required to store the yield.
4.Farmers mostly raised one or two crops a year for marketing. Corn oats
wheat and oil seeds are the main crops of Extensive agriculture.
5.It is practiced in developed countries, such as Australia, Canada, Russia
and USA.

-Plantation agriculture:
1.Plantation is a large farm or estate usually in a tropical or subtropical
country where crops are grown for sale in distant markets rather than
local consumption.
2.It is a very well organized system of agriculture wherein a single crop
farming is done. Under this system, benefit of single crop is obtained
continuously for several years.
3.It requires huge capital investment, scientific method of farming,
transport facilities, efficient management and skilled but low cost labour
in large number. Most of the processing work is done at the plantation
site itself.
4.Plantation agriculture is commonly practiced in hot and humid regions
of the world it include crops life coffee rubber and tea

-Livestock ranching:
1.Livestock ranching is the commercial grazing of farm animals over an
extensive area.
2. It is mostly adapted in arid or semi arid temperate region where the soil
is too poor to support crops and the population is sparse.
3.The ranches are usually pinched with barbed wires.
4.The major type of livestock are sheep cattle goats and horses. The
livestock products, such as meat, wool, hives, skins, etc, are chiefly
exported to different part of the world.
5.This activity is common to the grasslands of America South Africa
Australia and New Zealand.

-Dairy Farming:
1.It is a specialized form of agriculture for the large scale production of
milk.
2.It is a labor intensive activity.
3.Worldwide, India is the largest milk producer and New Zealand is the
largest cow milk exporter

Jhum Cultivation:
-Jhum Cultivation or Jhumming Is a type of shifting agriculture practiced
in northeast India, especially in Mizoram
-It is man’s primitive method of harmonizing land and climate with his
need for food along with the habitat shared with wildlife.

Organic Farming:
-Is a type of farming that uses organic manual and natural pesticides
-No fertilizers chemicals all genetic modifications are used to increase the
size or quality of produce.

Major Crops:
Cereals, Fibre crops and Beverage crops

1) Cereals:
Rice, Wheat, Maize and Millets

Rice:
-Soil type: Alluvial loamy and clayey
-Temperature: 24°C or above
-Rainfall: Above 100 cm
-Areas: Deltas, river valleys, Coastal plains and terraced fields in
mountainous regions.
-Rice producing areas in the world: China leads the production of rice
followed by India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar
and Japan.
-Rice producing areas in India: India is the second largest producer of rice
in the world after China. Rice is mainly cultivated in the states of West
Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha,
Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.

Wheat:
-Soil type: Loamy
-Temperature: sowing- 10° to 15° C, harvesting- 20° to 25° C
-Rainfall: 75-100 cm, harvest period should be frost free
-Areas: Mid-latitudinal and dry sub-tropical regions. It is the main crop of
temperature regions.
-Wheat producing areas in the world: Temperate grasslands of North
America, South America and Central Eurasia. China, India, Russia, USA,
France, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, Australia and Ukraine are the
leading wheat producing countries of the world.
-Wheat producing areas in India: North and Central regions of India,
Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar,
Gujarat and Maharashtra are the major wheat producing states.

Maize:
-Soil: well-drained alluvial soil
-Temperature: 21°-27° C
-Rainfall: 50-100 cm
-Areas in the world: USA, China, Brazil, India, Argentina, Ukraine,
Mexico, Indonesia, France and South Africa are the major countries. It is
known as corn in the USA.
-Areas in India: Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It is known as makka in India.

Millets:
-Soil type: Poor Quality
-Temperature: 18°-32° C
-Rainfall: 30-75 cm
-Areas in the world: India, Nigeria, Niger, China, Mali, Burkina Faso,
Sudan and Ethiopia
-Areas in India: Millets include coarse grains like jowar, bajra and ragi.
They are used both as food grain and as fodder.
Jowar- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana
Ragi- Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha,
Maharashtra Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa

2) Fibre crops:
Cotton and Jute

Cotton:
Egypt produces one of the finest cotton in the world
-Soil type: Alluvial and black
-Temperature: 30°-40° C (It is a crop of tropical and sub-tropical region)
-Rainfall: 60-100 cm. During the harvesting. Weather should be dry, frost
free and sunny.
-Areas in the world: China, India, USA, Pakistan, Brazil, Uzbekistan,
Turkey and Australia.
-Areas in India: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and
Haryana (Cheap and efficient labour is required for plugging cotton balls
it is mainly grown under irrigation)

Jute:
-Soil type: Alluvial soil found in river delta. It grows well in flood plains.
-Temperature: more than 25° C
-Rainfall: more than 150 cm
-Areas in the world: India, Bangladesh, China, Ivory Coast, Thailand,
Myanmar and Brazil.
-Areas in India: India is one of the leading producers. It is mainly
cultivated in Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar,
Meghalaya and Odisha

(-Retting is a process by which the fibre is separated from the plant stem
by decaying them in water
-The demand for jute is continuously decreasing because of it’s high cost
and easy availability of cheap synthetic substitutes)

3) Beverage Crops:
Tea and Coffee

Tea:
British started the tea plantation in India
-Soil: deep, well-drained fertile alluvial soil
-Temperature: 20°-30° C (it grows well in hot and humid conditions of
tropical and sub-tropical regions)
-Rainfall: 150-300 cm, hilly slopes are ideal for cultivation
-Areas in the world: China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Japan, Iran and Argentina.
-Areas in India: Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu ad West Bengal

Coffee
-Soil: well-drained fertile soil I’m hilly slopes
-Temperature: 15°-28° C (needs hot and humid climate)
-Rainfall: 150-200 cm
-Areas in the world: Brazil is the leading producer of coffee in the world.
Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, India, Honduras, Uganda and
Mexico are the other main coffee producing countries.
-Areas in India: Hilly regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Crops and their Leading Exporters:

Rice- Thailand and Vietnam
Wheat- Canada and USA
Maize- China, France and USA
Tea- China, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka
Cotton- Australia, USA and Uzbekistan

Agricultural Development:
-Food is essential for the growth of all human beings. With the growth of
population in the world the demand of food has also increased
-This situation compelled the people to develop new techniques of
agriculture so that the productivity could be increased.
-The farmers started using HYV Seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides
and modern equipments.
-Some countries have developed genetically modified crops through
biotechnology.
-Biotechnology involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in
engineering, technology, medicines etc. It also covers genetic engineering
cell and tissue, culture technologies, manufacture of drugs, environmental
management etc.
-In this, the higher yield is produced by introducing foreign genes from
different species. It has more nutritional value, better flavour and colour
in the food.
-Scientists believe that genetically modified crops can also help the
environment by reducing the problems of pesticides.

Comparative study of agricultural farms in the USA and India: