Agriculture

Introduction

• There are three distinct cropping seasons in the northern and interior parts of India, namely kharif, rabi, and zaid.

Cropping Season	Major Crops Cultivated
	Northern States	Southern States
Kharif (June-September)	Rice, Cotton, Bajra, Maize, Jowar, Toor	Rice, Maize, Ragi, Jowar, Groundnut
Rabi (October – March)	Wheat, Gram, Rapeseeds, and Mustard, Barley	Rice, Maize, Ragi, Groundnut, Jowar
Zaid (April–June)	Vegetables, Fruits, Fodder	Rice, Vegetables, Fodder

• Dryland farming is largely restricted to the regions having annual rainfall less than 75 cm. Major crops are ragi, bajra, moong, gram, and guar (fodder crops).
• The regions, which have rainfall in excess of soil moisture requirement of plants during the rainy season is known as wetland farming. Major crops are rice, jute, and sugarcane.
• The cereals occupy about 54% of total cropped area in India.
• India produces about 11% cereals of the world and ranks 3rd in production after China and U.S.A.
• Indian cereals are classified as fine grains (e.g. rice, wheat, etc.) and coarse grains (e.g. jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, etc.).

Types of Farming

• On the basis of main source of moisture for crops, the farming can be classified as irrigated and rainfed.
• On the basis of adequacy of soil moisture during cropping season, rainfed farming is further classified as dryland and wetland farming.

Major Crops

• In southern states and West Bengal, the climatic conditions facilitate the cultivation of two or three crops of rice in an agricultural year.
• In West Bengal farmers grow three crops of rice called ‘aus’, ‘aman,’ and ‘boro’.

• India contributes more than 20% to world’s rice production and ranks 2nd after China.
• About one-fourth of the total cropped area of India is under rice cultivation.
• West Bengal, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh are the leading rice producing states.
• India produces about 12% of total wheat production of the world.
• About 85% of total area under this crop is concentrated in north and central regions of the country, i.e., the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Malwa Plateau, and the Himalayan regions especially up to 2,700 m altitude.

• About 14% of the total cropped area in the country is under wheat cultivation.
• Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh are wheat producing states.
• The coarse cereals together occupy about 16.50% of total cropped area in the country.
• Maharashtra alone contributes to more than half of the total jowar production of the country.
• Bajra occupies about 5.2% of total cropped area in the country.
• Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana are the leading Bajra producer states.
• Maize is a food as well as fodder crop grown under the semi-arid climatic conditions and over inferior soils.

• Maize occupies about 3.6% of the total cropped area of India.
• Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh are the leading maize producers in the country.
• Pulses are the legume crops, which increase the natural fertility of soils through nitrogen fixation.
• With one-fifth of the total production of pulses in the world, India is a leading producer.
• Pulses occupy about 11% of the total cropped area in the country.
• The cultivation of pulses in the country is largely concentrated in the drylands of Deccan and central plateaus and northwestern parts.
• Gram and Toor are the main pulses cultivated in India.
• Gram covers only about 2.8% of the total cropped area in the country.
• Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Rajasthan are the main producers of gram.
• Toor (Arhar) is also known as red gram or pigeon pea.
• Toor occupies only about 2% of total cropped area of India.
• Maharashtra alone contributes to about one-third of the total production of toor.
• Groundnut, rapeseed and mustard, soyabean, and sunflower are the main oilseed crops grown in India.
• Oilseeds occupy about 14% of total cropped area in the country.
• Drylands of Malwa plateau, Marathwada, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka plateau are the major oilseeds growing regions of India.
• India produces about 18.8% of the total groundnut production in the world.
• Groundnut covers about 3.6% of total cropped area in the country.
• Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra are the leading groundnut producer states in India.
• Rapeseed and mustard comprise several oilseeds such as rai, sarson, toria, and taramira.
• Rapeseed and mustard oilseeds together occupy only 2.5% of total cropped area in the country.
• Rajasthan alone contributes to about one-third production (of oilseeds) while Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh other leading producers.
• Sunflower cultivation is concentrated in the regions of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and adjoining areas of Maharashtra.
• India grows both the short staple (Indian) cotton as well as the long staple (American) cotton called narma in north-western parts of the country.
• India accounts to about 8.3% of world’s total production of cotton.
• India ranks $4^{th}$ in the world for production of cotton after China, U.S.A., and Pakistan.
• Cotton occupies about 4.7% of total cropped area in the country.
• The major cotton growing areas in India are parts of Punjab, Haryana, and northern Rajasthan in the north-west; Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west; and plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu in the south.
• Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana are the leading cotton producing states.
• India produces about three-fifth of the total jute production of the world.
• West Bengal contributes about three-fourth of the total production of jute in the country.
• India is the second largest producer of sugarcane after Brazil.
• Sugarcane occupies 2.4% of total cropped area in the country and contributes about 23% to the world’s production of sugarcane.
• Uttar Pradesh produces about two-fifth of sugarcane of the country; other leading producers are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Tea is a plantation crop and used as a major beverage in India.
• Black tea leaves are fermented whereas green tea leaves are not fermented.
• Tea leaves have rich content of caffeine and tannin.
• Tea is grown over the undulating topography of hilly areas and well drained soils in humid and sub-humid tropics and sub-tropics.
• In India, tea plantation started in 1840s in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, which still is a major tea growing area in the country.

• With 28% of the world’s total production, India is a leading producer of tea.
• India ranks third among tea exporting countries in the world after Sri Lanka and China.
• Assam accounts for about 53.2% of the total cropped area and contributes more than half of total production of tea in the country; West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu are the other leading tea producers.
• There are three varieties of coffee − arabica, robusta, and liberica.
• India generally grows superior quality of coffee i.e. arabica, which is in great demand in the International market
• India produces only about 3.2% coffee of world’s total production and ranks 7th after Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Mexico.
• Coffee in India is cultivated in the highlands of the Western Ghats in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

• Karnataka alone contributes more than two-third to the total production of coffee in India.
• New seed varieties of wheat (from Mexico) and rice (from Philippines) known as high yielding varieties (HYVs) were introduced during mid-1960s in India (Green Revolution).

Agricultural Problems

• About 57% of the land is covered by crop cultivation in India; however, in the world, the corresponding share is only about 12%.
• On the other hand, the land-human ratio in the country is only 0.31 ha, which is almost half of that of the world as a whole i.e. 0.59 ha.
• However, major problems of the Indian agriculture system are −
  • Dependence on erratic monsoon;
  • Low productivity;
  • Constraints of financial resources and indebtedness;
  • Lack of proper land reforms;
  • Small farm size and fragmentation of landholdings;
  • Lack of commercialization; under-employment; and
  • Degradation of cultivable land.
• Further, lack of development of rural infrastructure, withdrawal of subsidies and price support, and impediments in availing of the rural credits may lead to interregional and inter-personal disparities in rural areas.
• Intensive Agricultural District Program (IADP) and Intensive Agricultural Area Program (IAAP) were launched to overcome the agricultural problems in India.
• Planning Commission of India initiated agro-climatic planning in 1988 to induce regionally balanced agricultural development in the country.