Agriculture

Class-6th b

CONTENTS
1.Types Of Farming :- Primitive Subsistence Farming
Intensive Subsistence Farming
Commercial Farming
2.Cropping Pattern :- Rabi
Kharif
Zaid
3. Major Crops:- Food Crops
Food Crops other than Grains
Non-Food Crops
4.Technological And Institutional Reforms :- Food Security

1.

TYPES OF FARMING

Primitive Subsistence Farming

This type of farming is still practiced in few pockets of India.
Primitive subsistence agriculture is practiced 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 the soil and suitability of other environmental
Conditions to the crops grown.
Jhumming Cultivation :- It is a slash and burn agriculture. A
patch of land is cleared and cereals and other food crops
are produced. When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers
shift and clear a fresh patch of land for cultivation. The soils
Fertility is replenished through natural processes. Land
Productivity is low as the farmers dont use fertilizers or
Other modern inputs.

Different Names of Jhumming

Cultivation
NAME
REGION/ PLACE

Milpa
Conuco
Roca
Masole
Ladang
Ray
Bewar or Dahiya
Podu or Penda
Pama Dabi or
Koman or Bringa
Kumari
Valre or Waltre
Khil
Kuruwa

Mexico and Central America

Venezuela
Brazil
Central Africa
Indonesia
Vietnam
Madhya Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Orissa
Western Ghats
South Eastern Rajasthan
Himalayan Belt
Jharkhand

Primitive Subsistence Farming

Jhumming cultivation

Intensive Subsistence Farming

This type of farming is practiced in areas of high population
Pressure on land . Its labour intensive farming , where high
Doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for
Obtaining higher production.
Through its right to inheritance leading to the division of
Among successive generations has rendered land holding
Size uneconomical , the farmers continue to take maximum
Output from the limited land in the absence of alternative
Source of livelihood. Thus, there is enormous pressure on
Agricultural land.

Commercial Farming

.Use of Higher doses of modern inputs like HYV seeds

( Higher Yielding Variety) , chemical fertilisers ,
insecticides, pesticides etc.
Degree of commercialization of agriculture changes from
one region to another.
Plantation is also a type of commercial farming where a
single crop is grown on a large area.
All the produce is used as raw material in industries.
In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana etc. are
important plantation crops.
Tea in Assam and North Bengal coffee in Karnataka are
some important plantations grown in these states.
As the production is mainly for market, a well- developed
network of transport and communication connecting the
plantation areas, processing industries and market plays
an a important role in the development.

Cropping Pattern

Different Types of Cropping Patterns

Rabi Crops :- Rabi crops are sown in winter from October
to December.
Harvested in In summer from April to June
Important Rabi crops wheat, barley, peas, gram, and
mustard.
Grown in States from North and North western parts
such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh
Success of Green Revolution In Punjab, Haryana,
Western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also
been an important factor in the growth of the Rabi
Crops.
Availability of precipitation during winter months due to
western temperate cyclones helps in the success of
these crops.

Different Types of Cropping Patterns

Kharif Crops : These crops are grown with the onset of monsoon and
harvested in September-October.
Important crops grown during this season are rice
(paddy), maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad,
cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.
Some of the most important kharif regions are Assam,
West Bengal, coastal regions of Orissa, the Konkan
coast, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Zaid Crops : In between the rabi and the kharif seasons, there is a
short season during the summer months known as the
Zaid season.
Some of the crops produced during zaid are
watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and
fodder crops and Sugarcane.

MAJOR CROPS

Rice

It is the staple food crop of a

Majority of people in india.
Our country is the largest
Producer of rice after China.
It is a Kharif Crop
Conditions required for the crop: It requires high temperature
(above 25C ) and high humidity.
Annual rainfall above 100 cm
In the areas of low rainfall, it grows
With the help of irrigation
Areas where it is found: North Eastern India, Plains of north, coastal areas and
deltaic regions

Wheat

This is the second most

Important cereal crop.
It is the main food crop in, in
North and north western part of India
This is a rabi crop.
Conditions required for the crop: It requires cool growing season and bright sunshine at
the time of ripening.
It requires 50 75 cm of rain of annual rain evenly
distributed over the growing season.
Areas of cultivation: Ganga Satluj plains on the north west and black soil
region of the Deccan.
Punjab , Haryana , Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and
parts of Maharashtra

Millets
There are three important millets grown in India: Jowar
Bajra
Ragi
Though these are known as coarse grains, they have high
nutritional value.
Jowar
It is the third most important crop
It is a red-fed crop mostly gown in moist areas.
Maharashtra is the largest producer followed by
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Bajra
It grows well in sandy soils and shallow black soil.
Rajasthan is the largest producer followed by Uttar
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujrat and Haryana.

Ragi
It is a crop of dry regions and grows well on red, black,
sandy, loamy and shallow black soils.
Karnataka is the largest producer followed by Tamil
Nadu.
Other important producers of ragi are Himachal
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and
Arunachal Pradesh.
Ragi is very rich in iron, calcium, other micronutrients
and roughage.

Maize

It is used both as food and fodder.

Conditions required for the crop: It is a kharif crop which requires temperature between
21C to 27C.
It grows well in old alluvial soil.
In some states like Bihar maize is grown in rabi season
also.
Areas of cultivation: Bihar, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh.

Food Crops Other Than Grains

Beverage Crops
TEA
Tea is an example of plantation
agriculture.
It is a labour-intensive industry needing abundant, cheap
and skilled labour.
India is the leading produce and exporter.
Conditions required for the crop: It grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates.
It needs deep and fertile well-drained soil rich in humus
and organic matter.
Tea bushes require warm and moist-free climate all
through the year along with frequent showers.
Areas of cultivation: Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of West
Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.

Coffee

India produces about 4% of he worlds coffee production.

It is famous for its good quality coffee.
The Arabica variety produced in India was brought from
Yemen.
Initially its cultivation was introduced in the Baba Budan
hills.
Even today its cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in
Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Brazil is the largest producer of coffee in the world
producing one third of the worlds total coffee.

Sugarcane

It is a tropical as well as
Subtropical crop.
Conditions required for the
Crop: It grows well in hot and humid
Climate.
It requires a temperature of 21C to 27C
An annual rainfall between 75cm. and 100cm.
Irrigation is required in the regions of low rainfall.
Areas Of Cultivation : It needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.
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 grown covering
approximately 12 per cent of the totalcropped area of the
country.
Main oil-seeds produced 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, cosmetics and ointments.

Oil Seeds
Groundnut
It is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of the
major oilseeds produced in the country.
Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of groundnut
followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and
Maharashtra
Linseed and mustard
These are rabi crops
Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south
India.
Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop.
8.

Non- Food Crops

Rubber

Rubber is an important industrial

Raw material
India ranks fifth among the worlds
natural rubber producers.
Conditions Required for the crop: It is an equatorial crop, but under
special conditions, it is also grown
in tropical and sub-tropical areas.
It requires moist and humid climate with rainfall of more
than 200 cm.
Temperature above 25C.
Areas of Cultivation : It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and
Andaman and Nicobar islands and Garo hills of
Meghalaya.

Fibre Crops
.

Cotton
India is believed to be the
original home of the cotton plant.
Cotton is one of the main raw
materials for cotton textile industry.
India is the third-largest producer
of cotton in the world.
Conditions Required For The Crop : Cotton grows well in drier parts of the black cotton soil of
the Deccan plateau.
It requires high temperature, light rainfall or irrigation,
210 frost-free days and bright sunshine for its growth.
It is a kharif crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature
Areas Of Cultivation
Major cotton-producing states are Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Jute

It is known as the golden fibre.

It is used in making gunny bags,
mats, ropes, yarn, carpets and
other artifacts.
Due to its high cost, it is losing
market to synthetic fibres and
packing materials, particularly the nylon
Conditions Required for the crop: Jute grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood
plains where soils are renewed every year.
High temperature is required during the time of growth.
Areas of Cultivation
West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa and Meghalaya are
the major jute producing states.

Technological And Institutional Reforms

FOOD SECURITY

Causes for Introduction of New

Reforms in Agriculture

Agriculture has been in practised in India for thousands

of years.
Continued uses of land without well-matched technoinstitutional reforms lead to slow
down in the pace of agricultural development.
In spite of development in irrigation most of the farmers
in large parts of the country
still depend upon monsoon and natural fertility of soil.
Our population grew at fast rate than agriculture
production.
There has been a lot of injustice done with farmers with
the current prices for their production.
Famines, droughts and other disasters ruined the entire
crop produced putting farmers in dilemma.

Technological And Institutional

Reforms Introduced after
Independence

Collective farming was introduced.

Land holdings were consolidated
Co-operative movement were started in Indian
agriculture
Zamindari system was abolished,
Land reform was introduced in First Five Year Plan.
The Green Revolution and related technologies were
introduced such as use of HYV of seed, fertilizers,
modern machinery and inputs.
White Revolution (Operation Flood) was introduced to
increase milk production.

Features Of Comprehensive Land

development

Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire

and disease, establishment of Grameen banks, cooperative
societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at
lower rates of interest were some important steps in this direction.
Kissan Credit Card (KCC) was introduced for easy availability of
inputs.
Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) are some other
schemes introduced by the Government of India for the benefit of
the farmers.
Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for
farmers were introduced on the radio and television.
The government also announces minimum support price,
remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check
the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.