Agriculture
Grade X
Glossary1. / Agriculture / The science or practice of cultivating soil and rearing of the animals.
2. / Animal husbandry / The science and the practice of breeding and caring for the farm animals.
3. / Artesian well / A well in which water flows out on its own owing to high pressure of the underground water.
4. / Artificial Protection / Restriction imposed on imports so that domestic producers are not faced with the competition from the low cost, low price producers from the rest of the world. Restriction can be in the form of the outright ban on the imports or imposition of the high import duties on imports.
5. / Beverage / A drink
6. / Biotechnology / The exploitation of the biological processes for industrial and other purposes.
7. / Bunding / A practice whereby boundaries are formed around the edges of a farmland.
8. / Cash crops / A crop produced for the sale and not used as the food etc.
9. / Cereal / Any kind of the grain used as food.
10. / Commercial agriculture / Cultivation of the large tract of the land to raise produce for the market.
11. / Consolidation of holdings / Bringing together different scattered holdings of an individual farmer.
12. / Contour ploughing / The practice of ploughing across and not down the hill slopes.
13. / Crop insurance / Just like any other insurance, farmers can insure their crops against the natural hazards by paying a small premium.
14. / Crop rotation / A systematic succession of different crops cultivated on a given piece of land in order to avoid exhaustion of the soil.
15. / Cross breed / A breed of animals or plants produced by crossing.
16. / Dairy farming / A kind of agriculture in which major emphasis is on breeding and rearing milch cattle, agricultural crops are raised mainly to feed these cattle.
17. / Diminishing returns / A situation in which successive doses of the input yield diminishing returns.
18. / Drip irrigation / A technique of irrigating crops by dropping water on crops, rather than flooding the fields.
19. / Drought animals / Any animal that is used for pulling heavy loads.
20. / Dryland farming / A farming practice where the soil depends entirely upon rainfall to get moisture necessary for raising crops, no irrigation facilities are available in such lands.
21. / Extensive Agriculture / Farming in which the amount of capital and labour applied to a given area of land is relatively small.
22. / Fibre / Any substance that can be spun, woven or felted.
23. / Fish farms / Hatcheries of fish where more productive and useful varieties of fish are seasonally stocked, carefully fed and caught in a controlled manner.
24. / Fisheries / The act of catching animals from the water on a large scale.
25. / Fishing Banks / Shallow ocean waters, generally located on continental shelves in cool mid-latitude regions, where comparatively few species of fish are present in vast number.
26. / Food security / A food situation that ensures availability
27. / Freshwater fisheries / The act of collecting fish from such resources as rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs.
28. / Global Competition / A situation in which free imports and exports of goods and services are allowed, so that a domestic producer has to compete with producers of similar commodities throughout the world for markets.
29. / Globalisation / A process by which an economy increasingly gets integrated with the rest of the world.
30. / Green revolution / A phenomenal and sustained increase in production of the agricultural crops.
31. / Growing season / Part of the year in a given region when the growth of vegetation or crops is possible.
32. / Institutional reforms / Improvement in social and legal arrangements that result in increased production on land.
33. / Intensive Agriculture / Farming in which large amounts of capital and labour are applied per unit of land in order to obtain high yield.
34. / Intensive Commercial Agriculture / A type of intensive farming whose quality products such as fruits, vegetation and flowers, enter into national and international trades.
35. / Inter-cropping / Raising of crops in association with each other or one another on the same field.
36. / Kharif season / A crop season that starts with the onset of monsoon and continues till the beginning of winter.
37. / Land holdings / A parcel of land, bounded by the similar parcels on all sides.
38. / Marginal holdings / Very small pieces of land, more usually upto 1 hectare.
39. / Marine fisheries / The act of collecting marine products from the coastal areas
40. / Mechanization of farming / Use of power driven machines in the various agriculture operations.
41. / Milch animals / Cattle that is reared for milk.
42. / Minimum support Price / A minimum guaranteed price of crop, fixed and announced by the government before the start of a cropping season, at which it would be ready to purchase any quantity of the crop offered to it for sale by farmers.
43. / Mixed farming / A type of farming in which cultivation of crops and raising of livestock go hand in hand.
44. / Multiple cropping / Growing of the two or more crops simultaneously in the same field.
45. / Oil cake / It is the residue left after extraction of oil from the seeds.
46. / Operation flood / A programme implemented by the government to encourage the rapid increase in milk production, resulted in the White Revolution.
47. / Oyster farming / Fish culture to produce pearls.
48. / Plantation Agriculture / A large scale one crop farming resembling factory production. It is usually characterized by large estates, huge capital investment and modern and scientific techniques of cultivation and trade.
49. / Poultry / Practice of breeding and caring for the fowls, especially for food.
50. / Productivity / Yield per hectare of land.
51. / Rabi season / A crop season that starts with the beginning of winter and continues till the beginning of the summer.
52. / Retting / This is the micro-biological process in which the jute bundles are immersed in soft running water for 2 to 3 weeks to remove fibre from the stalk.
53. / Shifting Agriculture / In this farming practice a piece of land is prepared for cultivation. This land remains under cultivation for a few years and is abandoned when it loses its fertility.
54. / Small holdings / Small pieces of lands, usually between 1 hectare and 2 hectares.
55. / Sprinklers / A device for scattering water in small drops.
56. / Strip cropping / Raising of crops in strips or lines in association with each other in the same filed.
57. / Subsistence agriculture / Practice of cultivating land whereby a farmer produces only for self consumption that is consumption by the family, backward techniques of the production are employed and the productivity is low.
58. / Technological reforms / Such improvements in agricultural techniques that result in the use of more efficient and the productive inputs.
59. / Uneconomic land holdings / A very small piece of land on which the total value of the output falls short of expenditure incurred.
60. / Wetland farming / A farming practice which has an advantage of irrigation facilities.
61. / White revolution / A phenomenal and sustained increase in the production of milk.
62. / Zaid / A short crop season of summer.
63. / Zamindari system / A system of the land ownership, where a person, usually called zamindar or landlord, acts as an intermediary between the government and the actual cultivator of land. He collects land revenue from the tenant. In the past, it has proved a strong exploitative factor.
AGRICULTURE
TYPES OF FARMING IN INDIA
Primitive Subsistence Farming
This type of farming is still practised in few pockets of India. Primitive subsistence agriculture ispractised on small patches of land with the help of primitive tools like hoe, dao and digging sticks,and family/community labour. This type of farming depends upon monsoon, natural fertility of thesoil and suitability of other environmental conditions to the crops grown. It is a ‘slash and burn’
agriculture. Farmers clear a patch of land and produce cereals and other food crops to sustaintheir family. When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of landfor cultivation. This type of shifting allows Nature to replenish the fertility of the soil throughnatural processes; land productivity in this type of agriculture is low as the farmer does not usefertilisers or other modern inputs. It is known by different names in different parts of the country.It is known as jhumming in north-eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland;Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district of Chattishgarh, and in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
This primitive form of cultivation is called ‘Bewar’ or ‘Dahiya’ in Madhya Pradesh, ‘Podu’ or ‘Penda’in Andhra Pradesh, ‘PamaDabi’ or ‘Koman’ or Bringa’ in Orissa, ‘Kumari’ in Western Ghats, ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’ in South-eastern Rajasthan, ‘Khil’ in the Himalayan belt, ‘Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand, and‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region.
Intensive Subsistence Farming
This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land. It is labour intensivefarming, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higherproduction.Though the ‘right of inheritance’ leading to the division of land among successive generations hasrendered land-holding size uneconomical, the farmers continue to take maximum output from thelimited land in the absence of alternative source of livelihood. Thus, there is enormous pressureon agricultural land.
Commercial Farming
The main characteristic of this type of farming is the use of higher doses of modern inputs, e.g.high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides in order toobtain higher productivity. The degree of commercialisation of agriculture varies from one regionto another. For example, rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab, but in Orissa, it is asubsistence crop.
Plantation
Plantation is also a type of commercial farming. In this type of farming, a single crop is grown ona large area. The plantation has an interface of agriculture and industry. Plantations cover largetracts of land, using capital intensive inputs, with the help of migrant labourers. All the produce isused as raw material in respective industries. In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana,etc..are important plantation crops. Tea in Assam and North Bengal coffee in Karnataka are someof the important plantation crops grown in these states. Since the production is mainly for market,a well developed network of transport and communication connecting the plantation areas,processing industries and markets plays an important role in the development of plantations.
CROPPING PATTERN
India has three cropping seasons — rabi, kharifand zaid.
Rabi: Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer fromApril to June. Some of the important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.Though, these crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and northwesternparts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and UttarPradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops. Availability ofprecipitation during winter months due to the western temperate cyclones helps in the success ofthese crops. However, the success of the green revolution in Punjab, Haryana, western UttarPradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also been an important factor in the growth of the abovementioned rabi crops.
Kharif: Kharif crops are grown with the onset of monsoon in different parts of the country andthese are harvested in September-October. Important crops grown during this season are paddy,maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean. Some of themost important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with UttarPradesh and Bihar. Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and Haryana. Instates like Assam, West Bengal and Orissa, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These areAus, Aman and Boro.
Zaid: In between the rabi and the kharif seasons, there is a short season during the summermonths known as the Zaidseason. Some of the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are watermelon,muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops. Sugarcane takes almost a year to grow.
Major Crops
Rice: It is the staple food crop of a majority of the people in India. Our country is the secondlargest producer of rice in the world after China. It is a kharif crop which requires hightemperature, (above 25°C) and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm. In the areasof less rainfall, it grows with the help of irrigation. Rice is grown in the plains of north andnorth-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions. Development of dense network of canalirrigation and tubewells have made it possible to grow rice in areas of less rainfall such as Punjab,Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.
Wheat: This is the second most important cereal crop. It is the main food crop, in north andnorth-western part of the country. This rabi crop requires a cool growing season and a brightsunshine at the time of ripening. It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributedover the growing season. There are two important wheat-growing zones in the country – theGanga-Satluj plains in the northwest and black soil region of the Deccan. The major wheatproducingstates are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and parts of MadhyaPradesh.
Millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in India. Though, these are knownas coarse grains, they have very high nutritional value. For example, ragi is very rich in iron,calcium, other micro nutrients and roughage. Jowar is the third most important food crop withrespect to area and production. It is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in the moist areas which hardlyneeds irrigation. Maharashtra is the largest producer of jowar followed by Karnataka, AndhraPradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil. Rajasthan isthe largest producer of bajra followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana. Ragiis a crop of dry regions and grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils.Karnataka is the largest producer of ragi followed by Tamil Nadu. Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh are also important for
the production of ragi.
Maize: It is a crop which is used both as food and fodder. It is a kharif crop which requirestemperature between 21°C to 27°C and grows well in old alluvial soil. In some states like Biharmaize is grown in rabi season also. Use of modern inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilisers andirrigation have contributed to the increasing production of maize. Major maize-producing statesare Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Pulses: India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of pulses in the world. Theseare the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet. Arhar, urad, moong, masur, chana and peasare major pulses of India. Pulses help in restoring soil fertility. That is why they are produce inrotation with other crops. UP, MP, Rajasthan and Karnataka are major pulse producing states in
India.
Sugarcane: Sugarcane grows in hot and humid climate. It requires temperature range of 21° to27° c and rainfall of 75 cm to 100 cm. Sugar can grow on variety of soils. After Brazil, India is thesecond largest producer of sugarcane in the world. It is the main source of sugar, gur (jaggary),khandsari and molasses. The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
Oil Seeds: India is the largest producer of oilseeds in the world. Different oil seeds are growncovering approximately 12 per cent of the total cropped area of the country. Main oil-seedsproduced in India are groundnut, mustard, coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, castor seeds,cotton seeds, linseed and sunflower. Most of these are edible and used as cooking mediums.However, some of these are also used as raw material in the production of soap, cosmeticsand ointments.
Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of the major oilseeds produced in thecountry. Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of groundnut followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,Gujarat and Maharashtra – linseed and mustard are rabi crops. Sesamum is a kharif crop in northand rabi crop in south India. Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop.
Tea: Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture. It is also an important beverage cropintroduced in India initially by the British. Today, most of the tea plantations are owned byIndians. The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates endowed with deep andfertile well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter. Tea bushes require warm and moistfrost-free climate all through the year. Frequent showers evenly distributed over the year ensurecontinuous growth of tender leaves. Tea is a labourintensive industry. It requires abundant, cheapand skilled labour. Tea is processed within the tea garden to restore its freshness. Major teaproducing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Naduand Kerala. Apart from these, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura are also tea-producing states in the country. India is the leading producer as well asexporter of tea in the world.