Wednesday 26 November 2014

Smart Notes on Indian (Agro) Geography Part - 20

Agriculture
·         Primary activities include all those connected with extraction and production of natural resources.
·         Secondary activities are concerned with the processing of these resources.
·         Agriculture is a primary activity. It includes growing crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers and rearing of livestock.
·         The land on which the crops are grown is known as arable land
·         Sericulture commercial rearing of silk worms. It may supplement the income of the farmer.
·         Agriculture The science and art of cultivation on the soil, raising crops and rearing livestock. It is also called farming
·         Pisciculture breeding of fish in specially constructed tanks and ponds
·         Viticulture Cultivation of grapes.
·         Horticulture Growing vegetables, flowers and fruits for commercial use.
TYPES OFFARMING
Ø  These are subsistence farming and commercial farming
Ø  Organic Farming In this type of farming, organic manure and natural pesticides are used instead of chemicals.  No genetic modification is done to increase the yield of the crop.
Ø  Intensive subsistence agriculture the farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour.
Ø  Primitive subsistence agriculture includes shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.
Ø  Shifting cultivation is known by different names in different parts of the world Jhumming North-East India Milpa-Mexico Roca- Brazil. Ladang- Malaysia
Ø  Shifting cultivation is practised in the thickly forested areas of Amazon basin, tropical Africa, parts of Southeast Asia and Northeast India.
Ø  Nomadic herding is practised in the semi-arid and arid regions of Sahara, Central Asia and some parts of India, like Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
Ø  Herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water,
Ø  In commercial grain farming crops are grown for commercial purpose. Wheat and maize are common commercially grown grains.
Major areas
Ø  Temperate grasslands of North America
Ø  Europe and Asia.
Ø  Severe winters restrict the growing season and only a single crop can be grown.
Ø  Mixed farming the land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock.
Ø  Practised in Europe, eastern USA, Argentina, southeast Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Ø  Plantations are a type of commercial farming where single crop of tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana or cotton are grown.
Ø  Found in the tropical regions of the world. Rubber in Malaysia, coffee in Brazil, tea in India and Sri Lanka are some examples.
Ø  Rice: Rice is the major food crop of the world.
Ø  Diet of the tropical and sub-tropical regions.
Ø  Needs high temperature, high humidity and rainfall
Ø  Grows best in alluvial clayey soil, which can retain water
Ø  China leads in the production of rice followed by India, Japan, Sri Lanka and Egypt
Ø  Wheat requires moderate temperature and rainfall during growing season and bright sunshine at the time of harvest.
Ø  Thrives best in well drained loamy soil
Ø  Grown extensively in USA, Canada, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, Australia and India. In India it is grown in winter.
Ø  Hardy crop that needs low rainfall
Ø  High to Moderate temperature and adequate rainfall.
Ø  Juwan, bare and rage are grown in India. Other countries are Nigeria, China and Niger.
Ø  Do you know?  Maize is also known as corn. Various colourful varieties of maize are found across the world.
Ø  Maize: Maize requires moderate temperature, rainfall and lots of sunshine.
Ø  Well-drained fertile soils.  Maize is grown in North America, Brazil, China, Russia, Canada, India, and Mexico.
Ø  Cotton: Cotton requires high temperature, light rainfall, two hundred and ten frost-free days and bright sunshine for its growth.
Ø  Grows best on black and alluvial soils.
Ø  China, USA, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Egypt are the leading producers of cotton
Ø  Jute: Jute was also known as the ‘Golden Fibre’.
Ø  Grows well on alluvial soil
Ø  Requires high temperature
Ø  Heavy rainfall and humid climate.
Ø  Grown in the tropical areas.
Ø  India and Bangladesh are the leading producers of jute.
Ø  Coffee: Coffee requires warm and wet climate and well drained loamy soil.
Ø  Hill slopes are more suitable for growth of this crop.
Ø  Brazil is the leading producer followed by Columbia and India.
Ø  Tea: Tea is a beverage crop grown on plantations.
Ø  Requires cool climate and well distributed high rainfall throughout the year for the growth of its tender leaves.
Ø  It needs well-drained loamy soils and gentle slopes.
Ø  Labour in large number is required to pick the leaves. Kenya, India, China, Sri Lanka produce the best quality tea in the world.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Primitive Subsistence Farming
Ø  It is jhumming in north-eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland
Ø  Pamlou in Manipur
Ø  Dipa in Bastar district of Chattishgarh, and in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Ø  ‘Milpa’ in Mexico and Central America
Ø  Conuco’ in Venzuela
Ø  Masole’ in Central Africa
Ø  Ladang’ in Indonesia
Ø  Ray’ in Vietnam
Ø  Bewar’ or ‘Dahiya’ in Madhya Pradesh,
Ø  Podu’ or ‘Penda’ in Andhra Pradesh
Ø  ‘Pama Dabi’ or ‘Koman’ or Bringa’ in Orissa
Ø  ‘Kumari’ in Western Ghats
Ø  ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’ in South-eastern Rajasthan
Ø  Khil’ in the Himalayan belt
Ø  Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand
Ø  ‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region




Intensive Subsistence Farming
Ø  Practised in areas of high population pressure on land
Ø  Labour-intensive farming
Commercial Farming
Ø  Use of higher doses of modern inputs, e.g. high yielding variety (HYV) seed
Ø  Chemical fertilisers,
Ø  Rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab
Ø  In Orissa, it is a subsistence crop
Ø  Plantation is also a type of commercial farming
Ø  A single crop is grown on a large area
Ø  Plantation has an interface of agriculture and industry
Ø  Cover large tracts of land
Ø  Using capital intensive inputs
Ø  With the help of migrant labourers.
Ø  Tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana, etc... Are important plantation crops
Ø  Tea in Assam and North Bengal
Ø  Coffee in Karnataka are some of the important plantation crops
Ø  Production is mainly for market
Ø  A well-developed network of transport and communication connecting the plantation areas, processing industries and markets plays an important role
CROPPING PATTERN
Ø  India has three cropping seasons — Rabi, kharif and zaid
Ø  Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December
Ø  Harvested in summer from April to June
Ø  Important Rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard
Ø  Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other Rabi crops.
Ø  Availability of precipitation during winter months due to the western temperate cyclones helps in the success of these crops
Ø  Success of the green revolution in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also been an important factor
Ø  Kharif crops are grown with the onset of monsoon
Ø  Harvested in September-October
Ø  Paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean
Ø  Rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Ø  Paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and Haryana
Ø  Assam, West Bengal and Orissa, three crops of paddy are grown in a year
 Aus, Aman and Boro.

Zaid season

Ø  Between the Rabi and the kharif seasons
Ø  Short season during the summer
Ø  Watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber
Ø  Vegetables and fodder crops
Ø  Sugarcane takes almost a year to grow.
Major Crops
Ø  Rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute, etc.
Rice:
Ø  Staple food crop of a majority of the people in India
Ø  Second largest producer of rice in the world after China
Ø  Kharif crop which requires high temperature, (above 25°C) and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm
Ø  Grown in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions.

Wheat
Ø  Second most important cereal crop
Ø  Second most important cereal crop
Ø  Rabi crop requires a cool growing season
Ø  Bright sunshine at the time of ripening
Ø  Requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributed over the growing season
Ø  Two important wheat-growing zones
Ø  The Ganga-Satluj plains in the northwest
Ø  Black soil region of the Deccan
Ø  Major wheat-producing states are Punjab
Ø  Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh
Millets
Ø  Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in India
Ø  Known as coarse grains
Ø  They have very high nutritional value
Ø  Ragi is very rich in iron, calcium, other micro nutrients and roughage
Ø  Jowar is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production.
Ø  Rain-fed crop mostly grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation.
Ø  Maharashtra is the largest producer of jowar followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
Ø  Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil
Ø  Rajasthan is the largest producer of bajra followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana
Ø  Grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils
Ø  Karnataka is the largest producer of ragi followed by Tamil Nadu.
Ø  Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh are also important for the production of ragi.
Maize:
Ø  Used both as food and fodder.
Ø  A kharif crop
Ø  Temperature between 21°C to 27°C
Ø  Grows well in old alluvial soil.
Ø  States like Bihar maize is grown in Rabi season also
Ø  Major maize-producing states are Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
Pulses
Ø  India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of pulses in the world.
Ø  Major pulses that are grown in India are tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas and gram.
Ø  Pulses need less moisture and survive even in dry conditions.
Ø  Being leguminous crops
Ø  All these crops except arhar help in restoring soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air
Ø  Mostly grown in rotation with other crops
Ø  Major pulse producing states in India are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka
Ø  Food Crops other than Grains
Sugarcane
Ø  It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop
Ø  It grows well in hot and humid climate with a temperature of 21°C to 27°C
Ø  Annual rainfall between 75cm and 100cm
Ø  Grown on a variety of soils and needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.
Ø  India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only after Brazil
Ø  The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana
Oil Seeds
Ø  Largest producer of oilseeds in the world
Ø  Different oil seeds are grown covering approximately 12 per cent of the total cropped area of the country
Ø  Main oil-seeds produced in India are groundnut, mustard, and coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, castor seeds, cotton seeds, linseed and sunflower
Ø  Edible and used as cooking mediums
Ø  Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of the major oilseeds produced in the country
Ø  Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of groundnut followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra
Ø  Linseed and mustard are Rabi crops
Ø  Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and Rabi crop in south India
Ø  Castor seed is grown both as Rabi and kharif crop
Tea
Ø  Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture
Ø  The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates endowed with deep and fertile well-drained so
Ø  Grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates endowed with deep and fertile well-drained soil
Ø  Rich in humus and organic matter
Ø  Tea bushes require warm and moist frost-free climate all through the year
Ø  Processed within the tea garden to restore its freshness
Ø  States are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Ø  Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura are also tea-producing states in the country.
Ø  India is the leading producer as well as exporter of tea in the world
Coffee
Ø  Four per cent of the world’s coffee production
Ø  Indian coffee is known in the world for its good quality
Ø  The Arabica variety initially brought from Yemen is produced in the country
Ø  Cultivation was introduced on the Baba Budan Hills
Ø  Cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu
Horticulture Crops:
Ø  India is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world
Ø  India is a producer of tropical as well as temperate fruits
Ø  Mangoes of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal,
Ø  Oranges of Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya)
Ø  Bananas of Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu
Ø  Lichi and guava of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Ø  Pineapples of Meghalaya
Ø  Grapes of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra
Ø  Apples, pears, apricots and walnuts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh
Ø  India produces about 13 per cent of the world’s vegetables.

Ø  Producer of pea, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato
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