Geography chapter 4 Agriculture part 1

Importance of agriculture

• Two-thirds of the Indian population is engaged in agricultural activities.
• Agriculture provides food security to more than 100 crore people,
• It produces raw materials for various agro-based industries.
• It accounts for about 25% GDP.

Types of Farming


Primitive Subsistence Farming

• It is a  slash and burn agriculture in which farmers clear a patch of land and produce cereals and other food crops to sustain their family.
• When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of land for cultivation.
• This type of shifting allows nature to replenish the fertility of the soil through natural processes
• Land productivity in this type of agriculture is low as the farmer does not use fertilizers or other modern inputs.
• It 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.
• The slash and burn agriculture is known as jhumming in north eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland,Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh and in Aadaman and Nicobar Islands.

Subsistence Intensive Farming

• This type of farming is practiced in areas of high population pressure on land.
• It is labour intensive farming, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.
• The farmers take maximum output from the limited land in the absence of alternative source of livelihood.
• Most of the production is consumed by the farmer and his family members.

Commercial Farming

• The main characteristics of this type of farming is the use of higher doses of modern inputs e.g. high variety seeds, chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides in order to obtain higher productivity.
• Most of the production is sold in the market.
• The degree of commercialization of agriculture varies from one region to another.
• Rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab, but in Orissa, it is a subsistence crop.

Plantation Agriculture

• Plantation is a kind of commercial farming in which a single crop is grown over a large area.
• The plantation has an interface of agriculture and industry
• Plantation cover large tracts of land, using capital intensive inputs, with the help of migrant labourers.
• All the produce is used as raw material in respective industries. Tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana, etc. are important plantation crops.