Types of Farming in India

Primitive Subsistence Farming:

 practiced on small patches of land.

 Primitive tools and family/community labour are used .
 mainly depends on monsoon and natural fertility of soil.
 called ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.
 produces just enough crops to sustain the family
Intensive Subsistence Farming:
 practiced in densely populated areas.
 This involves high degree of use of biochemical inputs and irrigation.
 There is huge pressure of population on this type of farming.

Commercial Farming:

 This type of farming is done with the sole purpose of selling the farm produce.
 Various modern inputs are used in this type of farming, e.g. HYV(High Yielding Variety) seeds, chemical
fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides.
 Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and some parts of Maharashtra are the areas where commercial farming
is done on large scale
 Plantationis the eg of commercialfarming,eg:tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana, etc
 a single crop is grown on a large area.
 It is capital intensive.
 Plantation requires a well developed network of transport and communication, processing industries
and a good market.
CROPPING PATTERN — rabi, kharif and zaid.
Rabi:
 known as winter crops.
 sown from October to December and harvested from April to June.
 Wheat, barley, pea, gram and mustard are the important rabi crops.
Kharif:
 known as summer crops.
 sown at the beginning of monosoon and harvested in September-October.
 Paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur, moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean
Zaid:
 The zaid season falls in between the rabi and kharif seasons.
 Watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber,
 Rice:
 India is the second largest producer of rice; after China.
 It requires high temperature (above 25°C), high humidity and annual rainfall above 100 cm.
 Rice is grown in the northern plains, northeast India, coastal areas and deltaic regions.
Wheat:
 Wheat is the second most important food crop in India
 Cool climate and bright sunshine.
 Wheat needs 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall
 The Ganga-Sutlej plains in the northwest and black soil region of Deccan –two wheat zone
Millets
 Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in India.
 Millets are known as coarse grains
 they have very high nutritional value.
 Maharashtra is the largest producer of jowar
 Bajra grows well on sandy soil and shallow black soil.
 Rajasthan is the largest producer of bajra
 Ragi grows in dry regions on red, black, sandy loamy and shallow black soils.
 Karnataka is the largest producer of ragi
Maize:
 used both as food and fodder.
 kharif crop
 It grows well in old alluvial soil
 requires a temperature range of 21°-27°C
 Pulses:
 India is the largest producer as well as consumer of pulses in the world.
 Need less moisture
 Help to restore fertility
 Pulses are usually produced in rotation with other crops

Sugarcane:

 Sugarcane needs hot and humid climate.

 Tropical as well as subtropical crops
 It requires temperature range of 21°-27°C and rainfall of 75 cm to 100 cm.
 India is the second largest producer of sugarcane after Brazil
 Oilseeds:
 India is the largest producer of oilseeds.
 Groundnut, mustard, coconut, sesame, soyabean, castor, cotton seeds, linseed and sunflower are the
main oilseeds grown in India.
 Tea:
 Tea plants grow well in tropical and sub-tropical climates
 deep and fertile well drained soil.
 The soil should be rich in humus and organic matter.
 Tea is a labour intensive industry.
 Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are major tea-producing states.
 The hills of Darjeeling are famous for the unique quality of tea produced there.
 India is the leading producer of tea in the world.
 Rubber:

 Rubber is a crop of equatorial region

 it is also grown tropical and subtropical regions.
 It needs moist and humid climate
 rainfall more than 200 cm
 . A temperature range above 25°C
 In India, rubber is mainly grown in Kerala,
Cotton:

 India is the third-largest producer of cotton.

 grows in dry pats of black cotton soil of the Deccan plateau.
 High temperature, light rainfall or irrigation, 210 frost-free days and bright sunshine are required
for the growth of cotton
 . The crop requires 6 to 8 months to mature.
Jute:

 Known as golden fibre

 Well drained fertile soil and high temperature
 Jute needs well-drained fertile soils of the flood plains
Technological and Institutional Reforms

 Agricultural in India is thousands of year old.

 It is subsistence in nature because farmers consume most of the produce by themselves.
 But because of use of modern technology and institutional reform Indian agriculture is becoming
commercial.

Technological Reforms:
 Wooden plough was replaced with tractors and tillers.
 Drip irrigation and sprinklers are now used for irrigation
 Use of chemical and bio fertilizers have increase manifold.
 HYV Seeds, pesticide, insecticides are also used more
 Biotechnology has developed much genetically improved variety of seed whichare resistant to drought
 Farmers are now using TV, Radio, Newspapers and Cell Phone to know about weather condition and
according they plan agricultural activities.
Institutional Reforms:
 Zamindari system was abolished by the Government of India
 Small fields were consolidated to make large fields
 Agriculture was the main focus in the first Five Years Plan.
 d) Kissan Credit Card [KCC], Personal Accident Insurance Scheme [PAIS] was started by Govt. to
help the Indian farmers.
 e) Govt. also announces Minimum Support Price and has abolished the role of middleman in
the market.