Definitions:

Agriculture: science and art of cultivation on the soil, raising crops and
rearing livestock. It is also called farming.
Sericulture: commercial rearing of silk worms.
Pisciculture: commercial breeding of fish.
Viticulture: cultivation of crops.
Horticulture: growing vegetables, flowers and fruits for commercial use
Subsistence farming- farm produce only meant for meeting the basic
needs of family.
Primitive subsistence farming- it is practised on small patches of land
with primitive tools. This type of farming depends upon monsoon, natural
fertility of soil etc. It is a slash and burn agriculture. It is practised by
tribal population mainly in NE states, MP, TN and Kerala. Productivity is
low, trees are cut to clear land, soil erosion. Also known as jhumming in
NE, Dipa in Chhattisgarh. Major crops are rice, corn, jowar, bajra etc.
Intensive farming-practised in areas of high population, high use of
labour and capital both, high use of fertilizers and irrigation facilities.
Farmer tries to get the maximum possible output from the small piece of
land. More than one crop is cultivated in a year. It is practised in western
and eastern coastal regions, flood plains and areas adjacent to them. In
this type, farm is divided into small parts, cattle play imp role, and yield
per hectare is high. Major crops are food grains, fruits, vegetables and
oilseeds.
Extensive farming- low population thus land is not divided, yield per
hectare is low, min use of human resources. The farmer specializes in one
or two commercial crop. It is widely practiced in Tarai region of Himalayas
and north western states.
Plantation farming- major crops are tea, coffee, sugar, rubber, spices,
palm etc. Single crop is grown in large area. Nearly all the products of
plantation farming are raw material for industries. They found only in
tropical region, not in temperate region. This is a type of commercial
farming. It requires large amount of capital. It is labour intensive.
Commercial farming- use of modern tools and techniques, primarily
grown for commercial purpose.
Net Area Sown:
This represents the total area sown with crops and orchards. Area sown more than once in the
same year is counted only once.

Gross Cropped Area:

This represents the total area sown once and/or more than once in a particular year, i.e. the
area is counted as many times as there are sowings in a year. This total area is also known as
total cropped area or total area sown.

Irrigated Area: The area is assumed to be irrigated for cultivation

through such sources as canals (Govt. & Private), tanks, tube-wells, other
wells and other sources. It is divided into two categories:
(i) Net Irrigated Area: It is the area irrigated through any source once in a
year for a particular crop.
(ii) Total Net Un-irrigated Area: It is the area arrived at by deducting the
net irrigated area from net sown area.
(iii) Total/Gross Irrigated Area: It is the total area under crops, irrigated
once and/or more than once in a year. It is counted as many times as the
number of times the areas are cropped and irrigated in a year.
(iv) Total/Gross Un-Irrigated Area: It is the area arrived at by deducting the
gross irrigated area from the gross sown area.
(v) Cropping Intensity: It is the ratio of Net Area Sown to the Total Cropped
Area.
Irrigated farming- protective irrigation farming is to protect the crops
from adverse effects of soil moisture deficiency where as productive
irrigation farming is meant to provide sufficient soil moisture to boost
production. Area under irrigation is 48.3%.
Two distinct irrigated ecosystems emerge.
Indo-Gangetic Plain region comprising the states of Punjab, Haryana,
plains of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and plains of Jammu & Kashmir.
Coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Estimates indicate that more food grain comes from irrigated ecosystem while
rain fed agriculture contributes less to national food grain production. In future
also at least 80 per cent of the incremental food needs required by 2025, has to
come from irrigated ecosystem where new technology and intensive fertilizer use
will continue to play dominant role in enhancing crop productivity

Rainfed farming-it is further classified as wetland and dryland farming.

Wetland farming in which rainfall is more than the requirement of soil and
thus water intensive crops are grown like rice, sugarcane and jute. It
receives rainfall more than 75 cm. In dry land farming rainfall is less than
75 cm and drought resistance crops are grown like millets and Gram ,
moongetc. Suicides are seen in rainfed areas.

Causes of low productivity in Indian agriculture.

1 Resource characterization categorization of land on the basis of land, water availability
and climate is crucial for efficient land use planning and resource deployment.
2 Farmers Participation lack of mechanisms to build up research programmes that take
into account the experience and knowledge base that exists within the farming community.
The farm family had never been the focal point of investigations. This top down approach of
agricultural scientists had given a poor perception of the problems that they tried to solve.
3 Low Water Use Efficiency Despite the fact that water is a precious and scarce resource,
its application and use efficiencies have been quite low. Low water use efficiency is
apparently attributable to:
i. Excessive use of water due to
improper leveling of fields coupled with improper application methods,
even in agriculturally advanced areas, and
faulty pricing policy for electricity and canal water leading to over
irrigation.
ii. Non-adoption of appropriate cropping systems. For example
extensive cultivation of rice in sandy soils of Punjab, and
advancement of rice transplanting to April/May in Punjab and Haryana.
4 Land Degradation Problem Soil salinity hazards due to ground water rise and impeded
natural drainage in certain canal command areas are well known.
5 Indiscriminate Exploitation of Ground Water The excessive pumping of ground
water for irrigation purposes in intensively cultivated areas of Punjab, Haryana and Western
Uttar Pradesh has caused lowering down of the ground water table in certain
pockets. Declining water tables not only raise production costs due to higher energy
requirements for pumping water from greater depths but such rapid rates of decline
spark serious questions about the long-term sustainability of rice-wheat system itself in
these areas. Contrary to this, the vast potential of ground water in Eastern Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and adjoining areas remains untapped.
6 In-efficient Land Use Diversion of highly productive irrigated land to non-agricultural
uses; such as industry, housing etc., especially at rural-urban interface needs to be viewed
seriously.
7 Decline in Factor Productivity Due to imbalance in fertilizer use,
widespread deficiencies of secondary and micro-nutrients and reduced organic matter

contents of cultivated lands, a declining trend for responses to nutrients, specially

to nitrogen, in major cropping systems is being observed on farmers fields. That is, to
sustain earlier yield levels farmers need to apply higher fertilizer doses.
8 Imbalance in Fertilizer Use The problem of imbalance in fertilizers is causing negative
balance of nutrients in soil. And if this trend continues, a serious threat persists for
sustainability of the major cropping systems of irrigated areas. Due to continuous cerealcereal cropping in most of the irrigated fertile lands during post green revolution period,
multiple nutrient deficiencies have emerged. The long term experiments have clearly shown
a decline in organic carbon, nitrogen and P in cereal-cereal intensive cropping.
Farmers have developed tendencies to use higher doses of nitrogenous fertilizers, may be
because N is comparatively cheaper than P and K. This, therefore, has resulted in widening
ratios of N: P and N: K to undesirable levels.
9 Build-up of Diseases/Pests With crop intensification under high input use,
serious threats of occurrence and build up of some obnoxious pests and diseases have crept
in. This factor again hinders the vertical growth and questions are being raised about the
sustainability of the environment under intensive input use, which is otherwise needed for
maximizing crop yields. Heavy infestation of Phalaris minor in continuous rice-wheat
cropping system in north westernplains is a glaring example.
10 Inadequate Considerations for Environmental Quality With a pressing need for
producing more and more from less and less land resource, a serious threat is lurking upon
the environmental quality. A potential danger may be envisioned in the form of pollution
of natural water bodies and underground aquifers due to nitrate leaching and phosphates
causing irreparable harm to natural ecosystems under high fertilizer use without improving
their use efficiencies.

Major cropping seasons

Rabi- sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer
from April to June. Crops need cool climate during its sowing and warm
climate during the germination of seed and maturation. Important crops
are wheat, barley, gram, linseed, mustard, masoor etc. North and NW
parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, UK and UP are
important for wheat and other Rabi crops. Availability of precipitation
during winter months due to western temperate cyclone helps in the
success of these crops.
Kharif- crops are grown at the beginning of SW monsoon and harvested
at the end of the SW monsoon (Sep-Oct). Major crops are paddy, maize,
jowar, bajra, tur, moong, cotton, jute, groundnut and soybean.
Zaid-in between Rabi and Kharif seasons a period during summer. Major
crops are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber vegetables and fodder
crops.
Rice
100-200cm
Plenty of sunshine.
Fertile alluvial soil.
Temp- above 25

Rice is grown almost throughout the year in hot and humid regions of eastern and southern
parts of India because most of the eastern and southern regions are fulfilling the above said
conditions. In those areas yearly two to three crops of rice is not uncommon. For example in
the Cauvery delta regions of Tamil Nadu paddy is cultivated thrice in a year viz. Samba crop
for 5 to 6 months again Kuruvai crop for 3 to 4 months again Thaladi crop for remaining
period.
2005-22.71% of gross cropped area
2010-22.05%

Rice

West Bengal, UP, AP

Problems faced by rice farmers

The major rice growing areas are concentrated in Eastern region and this
region is generally experiences high rainfall and severe flood almost
every year.
Low and imbalanced use of fertilizers, low use efficiency of applied
fertilizers particularly in the North-Eastern and Eastern States.
Lack of response to the application of balanced fertilizers.
About 78% of the farmers are small and marginal in the country and they
are poor in resource. Therefore, they are not in a position to use
optimum quantity of inputs in their crops which are essential for
increasing the productivity.
Possible solutions
Improving soil fertility by inclusion of leguminous crops in the crop
rotations or as mixed crop.
Emphasis on balanced use of plant nutrients along with the
popularization of integrated plant management system.
Promoting the Integrated Pest Management Approach for effective
control of pests and diseases by emphasizing the need based application
of pesticides.

MAIZE:
1. Rainfall should be 50-100cm and it cannot be grown in areas of more than 100cm.
2. The crop usually grows well under temperature varying from 21-27 degree Celsius.
3. Frost is injurious to maize so it requires four and a half frost free months in a year.
4. Fertile alluvial and red loam soil is suitable for maize.
Maize is mainly a Kharif crop which is sown just before the onset of the monsoon and
harvested after retreat of the monsoon. In some states like Bihar it is grown in Rabi season
also.
The cultivation of maize in India is characterised by inter-culture i.e. it is produced along
with pulses, oil seeds and vegetables. In Tamil Nadu it is a Rabi crop and is sown a few
weeks before the onset of winter rainy season in September and October. This is because of
Tamil Nadu is getting good rain fall in this period (north-east monsoon).

Maize
2005-5.01%
2010-4.22%
MILLETS:

Karnataka, AP, Maharashtra

Millets are short duration (3-4 months) warm weather grasses grown in those areas where
the main crops like rice and wheat cannot be grown successfully.
Jowar, Bajra and Ragi are some important millets.

Millets

Rajasthan, Karnataka,
Maharashtra

Jowar (sorghum):

Bajra:

Ragi:

Next to rice and wheat jowar is the third most

important food crop both with respect to area and
production.
1. It is grown both as kharif and Rabi crop. As a
kharif crop temperature between 26 -33 degree
Celsius is good. As a Rabi crop temperature should
not go below 16 degree Celsius.
2. Rain fall needs more than 30cm but should not
exceed 100cm.
3. Clayey deep regur and alluvium are best suited
soils.
Usually it has been cultivated in the dry and
irrigation is not used areas. Maharashtra produces
more than 50 per cent of the total jowar production
of India

1. Rainfall 40-50cm.
2. Temperature 25-30
degree Celsius.
3. Can be grown on poor
light sandy soils, black
and red soils.
It is a kharif crop.
Rajasthan is the largest
producer, it is mainly
grown in the central
plateau having poor
soils and dry climate
2005- 4.49%
2010-4.86%

mainly grown in
drier parts of south
India
1. Rainfall 50-100cm
2. Temperature 2030 degree Celsius.
3. It is raised on red,
light black and
sandy looms.
It is a kharif crop
Karnataka is the
largest producer
2005- 4%
2010- 0.63%

2005-13.7%
2010-3.7%
COTTON:
1. Uniformly high temperature (21-30).
2. Rainfall normal (50-100cm)
3. Black cotton soil.
Frost is the number one enemy of the cotton plant and it is grown in areas having at least
210 frost free days in a year.
Cotton is a kharif crop which requires 6 to 8 months to mature. Most of the crop is grown
mixed with other kharif crops such as maize, jowar, ragi, sesamum, castor, ground nut and
some vegetables.
Cotton grows well in the deep black soils of the Deccan and Malwa plateau and those in
Gujarat. Cotton quickly exhausts the fertility of soil. Therefore regular application of manures
and fertilizers to the soil is very necessary.
2005- 4.47%
2010- 5.50%

Cotton

Gujrat, Maharashtra, Andhra

Pradesh

Problems faced by cotton farming

1. Increased expenses on pesticides: both due to emergence of new pest
and increase in the cost of pesticides have increased the spending of
farmers on pesticides. Mostly pesticides are bought from lending money
from local money lenders at exorbitant rates.
2. Credit needs: for farmers kharif season may prove distress when rainfall
is not adequate. Farmers often get into debt trap in case of poor
monsoon.

3. Fluctuation in cotton fortunes: due to fluctuating market prices and

growing a cotton has become a gamble for farmers.
4. Health: generally farmers spray their field with their own sprayer and
consequently some of the farmers mentioned breathing problems,
dizziness and headaches.
5. Womens role in cotton cultivation: unlike other food crops their role in
cotton cultivation is limited.
JUTE:
1. requires high temperature (24-35) degree
2. Requires heavy rainfall 120-150cm.
3. Grow well in light sandy or claying loams.
Jute rapidly exhausts the fertility of the soil. So in the delta regions of the Hoogly River it
grows well because the Hoogly River would made the new alluvium deposits often over the
older layer. West Bengal largest producer and Bihar is second.
SUGARCANE:
Conditions of growth:
It is a long duration crop and requires 10 to 15 and even 18 months to mature, depending
upon the geographical conditions. It requires hot and humid climate.
1. temperature 21-27 degree.
2. Rainfall 75-150 cm. Too heavy rainfall results in low sugar content and deficiency in
rainfall produces fibrous crop.
3. In fact, sugarcane can tolerate any kind of soil that can retain moisture. But deep rich
loamy soils are ideal for its growth
Three belts of sugarcane cultivation can be identified.
1. The satluj-ganga plain from Punjab to Bihar.
2. The black soil belt from Maharashtra to Tamil nadu along the eastern slopes of the
western Ghats.
3. Coastal Andhra and the Krishna valley.
In the northern plain of India, the summer temperatures ranging from 30 to 35 degree
hamper the growth of the cane. In the winter months of December and January the
sugarcane crop is likely to be damaged by excessively cold weather accompanied by frost.
Consequently the yield per hectare is low. In south India, on the other hand reasonably high
temperature in the summer and frost free winter, coupled with the maritime winds in the
coastal areas are some of the climatic factors which are extremely beneficial to this crop. But
due to some economic and political conditions from the older days more sugars are
cultivated in north India to compare with south India. But nowadays it has been changing
towards the south India.
2005-2.41%
2010-2.66%

Sugarcane

UP,
Maharas
htra, TN

Sugarcane
Water requirement of sugarcane is 1500-2000 mm per hectare twice
that of rice and 4 times that of wheat.
But sugarcane grows over 11-12 months, as against 4-5 months for the

latter. Also, the best Punjab farmer cannot harvest beyond 5-6 tonnes of
wheat and 8-9 tonnes of paddy a hectare. In contrast, cane yields arent
below 40 tonnes for the worst Uttar Pradesh grower, while averaging
105 tonnes in Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane, in other words, uses less water
per day and even less for every unit weight of biomass produced.
The reason: It is a rare crop in a list that includes maize, sorghum and
a few grasses exhibiting C4 photosynthesis, a more efficient
mechanism of deploying solar energy to convert atmospheric carbon
dioxide and water into plant matter. This is significant considering that
scientists have sought to genetically modify rice, which uses the more
common C3 photosynthetic pathway, into a C4 plant. The latter is
seen to potentially yield 50 per cent more grain and double water-use
efficiency.
The biggest constituent in sugarcane, about 30 per cent by weight, is
bagasse: the fibrous residue remaining after extraction of the juice and
a rich source of biofuel. Not many know that sugar is an industry that
generates its own energy, not only to meet captive consumption
requirements but also to supply to the grid.
Balrampur Chini Mills, for instance, generated 75 crore units and
exported 55 crore units valued at Rs 229 crore to the UP Power
Corporation in 2013-14.
At 70 tonnes, the average one-hectare Indian cane farmers yield can
contribute 6,500-odd units of exportable electricity.
The leftover juice after extraction of the maximum possible sugar from
three cycles of boiling and crystallisation. The non-recoverable sugar in
the molasses is what gets fermented into alcohol. Why not give mills the
flexibility to ferment cane juice directly or at least after the first/ second
stages of crystallisation? Given that mills are now holding sugar stocks
equivalent to almost four months consumption, shouldnt they be
making more alcohol? With direct fermentation, they can produce up to
72 litre from every tonne of cane, against only 11 litre through
molasses. This is where policy matters.
The UP government reserves 34 per cent of molasses production by
mills for supplying to country liquor manufacturers. So, even while cane
farmers dont get paid, desi daru makers are guaranteed subsidised
molasses.

Wheat
1. Low to moderate temperature below 20
2. Moderate rainfall around 50-75
3. Fertile alluvial soil. Black soil of Deccan
In the ripening stage of the wheat there should be very less moisture in the atmosphere and
the temperature should rise gradually. This rise in temperature would happen with the
travelling of the sun from the tropic of Capricorn to the tropic of cancer.
2005-0.85%

2010-14.99%

Wheat

UP, Punjab,
Haryana

PULSES:
2005-11.58%
2010-12.94%

Pulses

MP, UP,
Rajasthan

Gram:
Gram is the most important of all the pulses.
1. Mild cool temperature 20-25 degree Celsius.
2. Rainfall 40-50 cm.
3. It grows well in loamy soils.
It is a rabi crop, most of the gram comes from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and
Maharashtra
Tur or arhar (pigeon pea or red gram):
Chiefly grown as kharif crop but in area of mild winter it is grown as rabi crop also. Seldom
grown as a single crop.
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarath, and Karnataka are the chief
producing states.
TOBACCO:
It is a crop of tropical and sub-tropical region.
1. Temperature varying from 16-35 degree Celsius.
2. Rainfall normally 100cm.
3. Well drained friable sandy loams, not too rich in organic matter but rich in mineral salts.
In fact, soil rather than climate is the determining factor for its geographical distribution.
Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are major states.
OILSEEDS:
India has the largest area and production of oilseeds in the world. Five major oil seeds are:
1.
Ground nut, 2.sesamum, 3.rapeseed and mustard, 4.linseed, 5. Castor seed.
2005-16.04%
2010-14.6%

Oilseed total

MP, Rajasthan, Gujrat

Ground nut:
1. it requires 20-30 degree Celsius temperature.
2. rainfall 50-75 cm.
3. enemies= frost, prolonged drought, continuous rain, stagnant water.
4. well drained light sandy loams, red, yellow and black cotton soils.
Around 90 per cent of the ground nut is produced as the kharif crop. But it can be grown
both as kharif and rabi crop. It serves as an important rotation crop because it synthesizes
atmospheric nitrogen and increases soil fertility.
Groundnut
Gujrat, TN, Andhra Pradesh
Sesamum:

1.it requires 21-23 degree temperature.

2.45-50cm rainfall.
3.well drained light loamy soils.
It is a rainfed crop it is grown as kharif crop in north India and rabi crop in south India.
Odisha, Rajasthan, west Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are the main
producers.
Rapeseed and mustard:
Like wheat and gram, they thrive only in cool climate of the satluj-ganga plain and very
small quantity is grown in peninsular India. They are mainly grown as rabi crop in pure or
mixed with wheat, gram, and barley.

Rape seed & Mustard

Rajasthan, MP, Haryana

TEA:
1. Temperature for its growth is 20-30 degree Celsius and temperatures above 35 degree
and below 10 degree is harmful for the bush.
2. It requires 150-300cm annual rainfall.
3. High humidity, heavy dew and morning fog favour the rapid development of young
leaves.
4. Tea is shade loving plant and develops more vigorously when planted along with shady
trees.
5 Mountain soil, Soil should be deep fertile, rich in humus and organic matter and water
should not stagnate
6. Although tea requires heavy rainfall for its growth, stagnant water is injurious to its roots.
It is therefore, grown on the hill slopes.
7. Most of the tea plantations in India are found at elevations varying from 600 to 1800m
above the sea level.
Tea in India is highly concentrated in few selected areas.
1. North eastern India:
It is more are less a triangular area in Assam and west Bengal. 75 per cent tea produced in
india is coming from here. In Assam main tea producing belts are Brahmaputra valley and
surma valley. In west Bengal it is in the Duars and Darjeeling.
2. South India:
In south India tea is produced in Nilgiri, Cardamom,Palani and Annaimalai in Tamilnadu,
kerala and Karnataka. This region accounts for 22 per cent of tea production in India. In
south India Tamilnadu is the largest producer of tea accounting for over 14 percent of total
tea production in India.
3. North west India:
Some of tea is produced in UK and HP
COFFEE:
1.it grows in hot and humid climate, temperature varying from 15-28 degree is good.
Temperature above 30 degree is harmful. And also it does not tolerate frost, snowfall.
2.rainfall from 150-250cm. Is good. Stagnant water is harmful.
3.dry weather is necessary at the time of ripening.
4.well drained, rich friable loams containing good deal of humus and minerals like iron and
calcium are ideal.
Northern and eastern aspects of slopes are preferred as they are less exposed to strong
afternoon sun and the south west monsoon winds. The restricted agro climatic conditions
have forced the coffee plantations to confine themselves to small area in south india

comprising hill areas around nilgiris. Almost the entire production is shared by three states
namely Karnataka, kerala, tamil nadu. Karnataka is the leading producer in india.

RUBBER:
1. It requires hot and humid climate with temperature of 25-35degree Celsius. And annual
rainfall of about 300cm.
2. Dry spell and low temperature is harmful. Daily rainfall followed by strong sun is very
useful.
3. Deep well drained loamy soils on the hill slopes at elevation ranging from 300-450 m
above sea level is best condition. There is no rubber tree found above 700m elevation,
because the yield will reduce.
Kerala is the largest producer of rubber followed by Tamilnadu and Karnataka
SPICES:
Pepper, cordomum, chillies, turmeric and ginger are some of the important spices produced
in india. They generally require heavy rainfall
HORTICULTURE:
Horticulture is the section of agriculture in which fruits and vegetables are grown. Immense
agro climatic diversity enables india to grow a large variety of horticulture crops.

Cropping pattern
The pattern of crops grown on a given piece of land, or order in which the crops are
cultivated over a fixed period to earn maximum benefit is known as cropping pattern.
So depending upon the physiographic conditions, climatic condition, economic
condition, scientific conditions and political conditions we would change different
variety of crops in a given piece of land over the period this is called cropping
pattern.
Types of cropping pattern
Mixed cropping: growing of 2 or more crops simultaneously and intermingled on the same
piece of land without row arrangements (without any regular pattern) in a single growing
season. This reduces the risk and gives some insurance against failure of one crop.
Intercropping: growing 2 or more crops simultaneously on the same field in a definite pattern.
Advantages of intercropping are better control of weeds, pest and diseases, better use of
resource growth, stability in yield etc. Major disadvantages are yield decreases because of
competition effect, difficulty in using machines.
Relay cropping: growing 2 or more crops on the same field with different maturing age i.e.
one is harvested earlier than other.
Crop rotation: growing of different crops in planned succession. Major advantages are the
more effective control of weeds, pests and more economical utilisation of soil fertility. EXleguminous crops like pulses are grown alternately with wheat, barley or mustard.
Single cropping: cultivators grow one crop. It is generally undertaken in those areas where
soil and climatic conditions are most favourable for the production of a particular crop only.
EX-Tea, Coffee etc
1.
Sole cropping: also known as solid planting, growing of only one crop variety in
the given piece of land.
2.
Monoculture: repetitive growing of same sole crop on same land.
The crop occupying the highest percentage of the sown area of the region is taken as the
base crop and all other possible alternative crops which are sown in the region either as

substitutes of the base crop in the same season or as the crops which fit in the rotation in the
subsequent season, are considered in the pattern.
Determinants of cropping pattern

Physical factor
Climate
Terrain i.e. soil and slope

Infrastructural
Irrigation facilities
Technology like HYV are short duration crops thus more crops in cropping pattern

Economic
Demand based cropping pattern

Social and cultural

Food habits etc like wheat in western India and rice in eastern India.

Size of land
Small holding farmers prefer labour intensive cropping where as large land holders
prefer for capital intensive cropping
Indian agriculture has multiplicity of cropping systems due the following reasons
Still almost 50 % of the cropped area are dependent upon rain, thus cultivating a
larger area under a particular crop is risky business.

Due to the prevailing socio-economic condition like small land holdings, high
population pressure etc all this led India towards subsistence agriculture.
Change in cropping pattern
A change in the cropping pattern means a change in the proportion of area under different
crops. The cropping pattern changes depend upon changes in demand patterns,
development of irrigation, availability of marketing infrastructure and new trade
arrangements.
PREVALENT CROPPING SYSTEMS in India
Multiplicity of cropping systems has been one of the main features of Indian agriculture. This
may be attributed to following two major factors:

Due large area lacking irrigation facilitiespractice of intercropping, due to

greater risks involved in cultivating larger area under a particular crop.

Due to prevailing socio-economic situations most of the farmers resort to grow a

number of crops on their farm holdings, primarily to fulfil their household needs
Classification of cropping pattern:
Indias cropping pattern is dominated by food crops due to huge population. The net
sown area is 46% of total land. The most convenient method is to classify the
agricultural production into two groups ie. Food grains and non-food grains. The area
under foodgrains are UP, MP, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The areas under non-food
crops are Maharashtra, MP, AP and Gujarat. A large proportion of the area under food
grains is occupied by cereals i.e. total food grains occupy 64.18% of the gross
cropped area whereas total cereals occupy 51.24% of gross cropped area.

If we study the area of cultivation of food grains and non-food grains, there was a gradual
shift from non-food grains to food grains. Important reasons are: the prices of food grains
have been rising quite fast and the farmers have started growing food crops in the similar
way they grow commercial crops like cotton, oil seed crops sugarcane etc. Secondly, the
cultivation of food grains has become highly remunerative and productive under the impact
of new technology.

SPECIFIC ISSUES RELATING TO SOME IMPORTANT CROPPING SYSTEMS

Rice-Wheat
Rice-Wheat system is the most widely adopted cropping system in the country and it is
prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh
Despite enormous growth of this cropping system in the country during the past few years,
reports of stagnation in the productivity of these crops, with possible decline in production in
future, have raised doubts on its sustainability. Important issues emerging as a threat to the
sustainability of rice-wheat system are:
Over mining of nutrients from soil
Decreasing response to nutrients
Declining ground water table
Build up of diseases/pest
Low use of fertilizer in eastern and central India
Lack of appropriate varietal combination.
Rice-Rice
Rice-rice is the popular cropping system in irrigated lands in humid and coastal ecosystems
of Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala . The major issues in sustaining
productivity of rice-rice system are:
Deterioration in soil physical conditions.
Micronutrient deficiency.
Poor efficiency of nitrogen use.
Imbalance in use of nutrient
Build up of obnoxious weeds such as Echinochloa crusgalli and nonavailability of suitable control measures.
Rice-Mustard

From a view point of food security and national economy, ricerapeseed/mustard may be considered as an important cropping system. In
this cropping system, the yield of Rice is satisfactory in all ecosystems,
however, wide variations in yield of mustard were recorded from one
ecosystem to another

Rice-Pulses
Rice-Pulses cropping system is a dominant crop rotation in Chhattisgarh,
Orissa and parts of Bihar.
Factors limiting productivity of this cropping system in the region are as follows:A.Physical factors
Droughts and erratic distribution of rainfall.
Small area under assured irrigation.
High percolation, resulting in heavy nitrogen losses in red sandy-loam
soils, particularly Bhata soils.
B. Input related factors
Delayed and prolonged biasi/transplanting.
Low coverage under high yielding varieties (HYVs).
Little attention to timely weed control.
Inadequate supply of quality seed.
Little attention to disease/pest control.
C. Social factors
Low literacy.
Large proportion of marginal and tribal farmers.
Practices of animal grazing on agricultural lands.
Low risk bearing capacity of farmers of the region.
Sugarcane-Wheat
Prevalent in N India. Problems in sugarcane-wheat system are:
Late planting of sugarcane as well as wheat.
Imbalance and inadequate use of nutrients. Since majority of farmers
apply only N in sugar cane and the use of P and K is limited. The emerging
deficiencies of P, K, S and micro-nutrients are limiting system productivity
directly and through interactions with other nutrients.
Low productivity of ratoon due to poor sprouting of winter harvested
sugarcane in north India.
Poor nitrogen use efficiency in sugarcane

Maize-Wheat
Among maize-wheat growing areas, maize is the principal crop of Kharif season in northern
hills of the country but plains of northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh and Bihar also have sizeable acreage under this crop.
Poor maize-wheat yield has been reported from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tripura, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. There are
number of reasons for poor yield but the most significant are:
Sowing time
Poor plant population
Poor weed management
Poor use of organic and inorganic fertilizers.
Large area under rain fed
Cotton-Wheat

Cotton is widely grown in alluvial soils of north India (Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and
Western Uttar Pradesh) and black cotton soils of central India (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
and Karnataka). With the availability of short duration varieties of cotton, cotton-wheat
cropping system has become dominant in North. About 70-80 per cent area of cotton is
covered under this system. In Central region also, wherever irrigation is available, cottonwheat is practiced. The major issues of concern in cotton-wheat cropping system are:
Delayed planting of succeeding wheat after harvest of cotton.
Stubbles of cotton create problem of tillage operations and poor tilth for
wheat.
Susceptibility of high yielding varieties of cotton to boll worm and white fly
and consequently high cost on their control leading to unsustainability.
Poor nitrogen use efficiency in cotton results in low productivity of the
system.
Appropriate technology for intercropping in widely spaced cotton is
needed to be developed
LEGUME BASED CROPPING SYSTEMS
Legume crops (pulses and oilseeds) are popular for their suitability in different cropping
systems. Recent advances in the development of large number of varieties of pulse and
oilseed crops, varying largely for maturity duration, have made it possible to include them I
irrigated crop sequences. The popular cropping systems are pigeon pea-wheat in Madhya
Pradesh and groundnutwheat in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and groundnutsorghum in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The major issues in legume based cropping systems are:
No technological breakthrough has been achieve so far in respect of yield
barriers, particularly in
legumes.
Susceptibility of the pulses to aberrant weather conditions especially water
logging and adverse
soils making them highly unstable in performance.
High susceptibility to diseases and pests.
Low harvest index, flower drop, indeterminate growth habit and very poor
response to fertilizers and water in most of the grain legumes.
Nutrient needs of the system have to be worked out considering N-fixation
capacity of legume crops.

Property

Alluvial
43.7% of
India
Bhaggardark in
clour, older
Khaddarlight in
colour,
newer
deposit

Red
Red colour is
due to Fe.
pH varies
from 6.6 to
8 and are
poorer than
alluvial.
They are
loamy or
sandy and
have low
water
retention

Black
Also known
as regur,
they are of
lava origin,
clayey and
impermeabl
e. High
moisture
retention
level. On the
up lands
they low
fertility

Laterite
Under high
temp and
heavy
rainfall with
alternate
wet and dry
periods.
Process of
leaching
occurs,
heavy
particles like
Fe, Al settles

Desert
Sandy,
alkaline, low
water
holding
capacity.

Mountain
Acidic loamy

Rich

Potash K

deficient

N, P, Humus

Major crops

Rice, wheat,
sugarcane,
jute,
oilseeds,
vegetables
etc

capacity.
They are
deep and
fertile in low
lands and
poor in up
lands.

compared to
low lands

Al, Lime,
Iron
N,P,K and
organic
matter
under
irrigation,
can produce
excellent
crops like
cotton,
wheat,
pulses,
tobacco,
jowar,
linseed,
millet,
potatoes
and fruits.
These are
also
characterize
d by stunted
forest
growth and
are suited to
dry farming

Iron, K, Al,
Mg, Lime
N, P, humus

Cotton,
sugarcane,
groundnut,
bananamost of the
commercial
crop

down
whereas
light
particles like
Silica and
lime are
washed
away.
Process of
soil
formation is
called
laterization.
Only found
b/w tropics
Fe, Al
Mg, lime,
silica N
Tea, coffee,
rubber,
Cashewnut,
spices.

P, K
N, humus

humus