Agriculture In India
In India, around 70% of the population earns its livelihood from agriculture. It is an important source of raw material for many agro-based industries. Farming is practised in various ways across the world.
Depending upon the geographical conditions, demand for products, labour and level of technology, farming can be classified into:
Subsistence Farming
- This farming is practised to meet the needs of the farmer’s family.
- Cultivation techniques are primitive and simple.
- Farmers mostly cultivate cereals along with oil seeds, pulses, vegetables and sugarcane.
Commercial Farming
- This farming is just the opposite to subsistence farming.most of the produce is sold in the market for earning money.
- In this system, farmers use inputs like irrigation, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and High Yielding Varieties of seeds etc.
- Some of the major commercial crops grown in different parts of India are cotton, jute, sugarcane, groundnut etc.
Intensive and Extensive Farming
- They differ on the amount of production per unit of land.
- When we use a large patch of land for cultivation then we call it extensive farming.
- India does not practise extensive cultivation.
- The best example of intensive cultivation is in Japan where availability of land for cultivation is very limited. In India, it is practised in Kerala.
Plantation Farming
- In this type of agriculture, a single cash crop is grown for sale.
- eg: Tea, coffee, rubber, banana, and spices.
Mixed Farming
- It is a situation in which both raising crops and rearing animals are carried on simultaneously.
India has three cropping seasons – Rabi, kharif, and zaid.
- Rabi – Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June. Ex: wheat, barley, peas, gram, and mustard.
- Kharif – Kharif crops are grown with the onset of monsoon(July) in different parts of the country and these are harvested in September-October. Ex: paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur(arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut, and soyabean.
- Zaid – There is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season.This crop is grown in some parts of the country during March to June. Ex: watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.
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