INDIAN SCHOOL, AL AIN

GEOGRAPHY NOTES

CHAPTER: AGRICULTURE

Questions with Answers:

1. What is the contribution of agriculture to the national economy?

Ans:
A. Agriculture backbone of Indian Economy. Nearly two-thirds of its population depends directly
on agriculture for its livelihood.
B. Share in the gross domestic product.
C. Providing employment.
D. It ensures food security for the country
E. produces several raw materials for industries.

2. Differentiate between:
Ans:

Primitive Subsistence Intensive Subsistence Commercial Farming:

Farming: Farming:
1. The help of primitive 1. This type of farming 1. This type of farming
tools like hoe dao is practiced is areas is the use of higher
and digging sticks, of high population doses of modern
and family pressure on land. inputs.
/community labor.
2. It is labor intensive 2. The degree of
2. This type of farming farming. commercialization of
depends upon agriculture various
monsoon, natural 3. The biological inputs from one region to
fertility of the soil and irrigation are another.
and suitability of used for obtaining
other environmental higher production.
conditions to the 3. A single crop s grown
crops grown. 4. There is enormous on a large area.
pressure on
agriculture land. 4. The help of migrant
3. It is ‘salsh and burn’ laborer.
agriculture. 5. The produces is used
 4. The soil fertility as raw material in
decreases. respective industries.

5. The farmers shift and

clear a fresh patch of
land for cultivation.

3. What is Plantation Agriculture:

Ans:
A. The form of commercial farming where crops are grown for profit is known as
plantation agriculture.
B. Large land areas are much needed for this sort of agriculture farming
C. The important plantation crops are sugarcane, bananas, coffee, tea, cocoa, oil palm,
rubber, cotton.
D. Use cheap migrant labor.
E. A good system of transportation and communication network necessary for this type of
farming.

4. Differentiate between Kharif and Rabi crops:

Ans:

Kharif Crop Rabi Crop

Sown when the rainy season begins, i.e. Sown when the winter season ends, i.e. between
between April and May. September and October.

Also known as monsoon crops. Also known as winter crops.

Affected by rainfall pattern. Not affected by rainfall pattern.

Requires hot weather and a large amount of Requires warm climate for seed germination and cold
water to grow. climate to grow.

The harvesting month is between September-

The harvesting month is between March-April.
October.

Maize, rice, cotton, groundnut is Kharif crops. Peas, wheat, gram and barley are rabi crops.

5. What are Zaid crops?

Ans:
 A. These crops are grown in a short season between Kharif and Rabi season in the
months of March to July.
B. These crops are grown on irrigated lands and do not have to wait for monsoons
C. Some examples of Zaid types of crops are pumpkin, cucumber, bitter gourd.

6. Differentiate between the conditions of growth for Rice and Wheat.

Ans:

Now-a-days, rice is also grown in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and in parts
of Rajasthan. This has been possible because of development of a dense network of
canals.
7. Differentiate between the conditions for growth of Cotton and Jute.
8. Differentiate between the conditions for growth of Tea and Coffee
Ans:

Tea Coffee
A. India is the largest producer and exporter A. Coffee is the second most popular
of tea in the world. The ideal climatic beverage of India. Its cultivation is
conditions for the production and confined in South India
growing of tea
B. Temperature: 21°C to 29°C is ideal for the B. Coffee is grown on the tropical
production of tea. highlands. Coffee is a typical highland
crop of the Tropics.
C. Rainfall: 150-250 cm of rainfall is required C. The coffee plant needs a rainfall
for tea cultivation. Soil: ranging between 125 cm and 200 cm.
The rainfall should be well distributed
throughout the year.
D. The soil should be rich in humus. Land: D. In India, most of the coffee grown,
Tea cultivation needs well drained land belongs to the Arabic or the Roberta
verities.
E. Grown in Assam, Darjeeling and E. The coffee plant needs deep loamy soil
Jalpaiguri of West Bengal formed from weathered lava.

9. What are the main geographical requirements for the cultivation of rubber?
Ans:
A. Rubber needs a hot and wet climate, like that of equatorial areas
B. It requires high temperature throughout the year – ranging between 20°-35°C or
average monthly mean of 27°C.
C. rubber also requires heavy rainfall.
D. In India, rubber is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman &
Nicobar Islands and also in the Garo hills of Meghalaya.
E. The plain or gently undulating land is suitable for rubber plantations.

10. What are the technological and Institutional reforms introduced in the field of agriculture?
Ans:
A. Abolish zamindari and
B. consolidate land holdings. The consolidation of land holdings involved combining
adjacent small fields into single large farms and encouraging individual land owners to
do cooperative farming.
C. Agricultural reforms in the 1960s and 1970s known as the green revolution in India:
Providing high yielding varieties of seeds and fertilizers to farmers, and
Developing large-scale irrigation facilities to allow them to grow two
crops in a year.
D. Insurance cover to farmers against damage to crops and Setting up of rural
banks and cooperative societies to provide them loans on easy rates of interest.
 E. The government also started broadcasting radio and television programs to educate
farmers about new techniques of agriculture and give them prior warning about
weather conditions.
F. To stop the exploitation of farmers by middlemen, the government announced the
procurement, remunerative and minimum support prices of all the major crops in
India.

11. Explain the conditions for growth of millets in India.

Ans: Millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in India. Millets are known as
coarse grains, but they have very high nutritional value.
Jowar: Maharashtra is the largest producer of jowar; followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh
and Madhya Pradesh. Jowar grows in moist areas and hardly needs irrigation.
Bajra: Bajra grows well on sandy soil and shallow black soil. Rajasthan is the largest producer
of bajra; followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.
Ragi: Ragi grows in dry regions on red, black, sandy loamy and shallow black soils. Karnataka is
the largest producer of ragi; follower by Tamil Nadu.
Maize: Maize is used both as food and fodder. It grows well in old alluvial soil and requires a
temperature range of 21°-27°C. Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh are the major maize-producing states.

12. India is the largest producer and consumer of which crop?

Ans: Pulses: India is the largest producer of pulses in the world. It is also the largest consumer of
pulses. Pulses are usually produced in rotation with other crops. Because they fix nitrogen to the
soil. UP, MP, Rajasthan and Karnataka are the major pulse-producing states.

13. Explain the conditions for growth of sugarcane.

Ans: Sugarcane: A. Sugarcane needs hot and humid climate.
B. It requires temperature range of 21°-27°C and rainfall of 75 cm to 100 cm.
C. India is the second largest producer of sugarcane, while Brazil is the number one.
D. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and
Haryana are major sugar producing states.

14. Explain the importance of oilseeds for India.

Ans: Oilseeds: A. 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.

B. Groundnut: Groundnut accounts for about half of the major oilseeds produced in the country.
Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of groundnut; followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Gujarat and Maharashtra. Groundnut is a kharif crop. Linseed and mustard are rabi crops.
Sesame is a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south. Castor is grown both as rabi and kharif
crops.
 C. These are edible, used for cooking, production of soap, cosmetics and ointments.

15. What is Bhoodan Gramdaan movement?

Ans: A. It was a land reform movement in India which included the voluntary gifting of the land
by the landowners to the landless labourers.

B. Bhoodan Movement led to the 'Gramdaan' when people of a village voluntarily donated all
lands of the village for redistribution of land on an equitable basis

C.The Bhoodan and Gramdan movements led by Vinoba Bhave attempted to bring about a “non-
violent revolution” in India's land reforms programme.

D. These integrated movements were an attempted to implement land reforms by urging the
landed classes to voluntarily surrender a part of their land to the landless

16. What efforts are made by government to modernize agriculture?

Ans: To modernize Indian Agriculture the Indian government has taken concerted efforts like:

 Setting up of Indian Council of Agricultural Research

 Agricultural universities, veterinary services and animal breeding centres.
 Horticulture development
 Research and development in the field meteorology and weather forecast.
 Improvement of rural infrastructure.

17. Explain the problem of food security in India.

Ans: The number of people who do not have food security is disproportionately large in some
region of our country particularly in economically less developed states with the higher
incidence of poverty.
Buffer stock refers to excess grains or surplus quantity of wheat or rice. Buffer stock is procured
by FCI (Food corporation of India). ... By this, the farmers are food secure. Likewise, the surplus
grains are distributed to rations shops by Public Distribution System.

The focus of the policy is on fixing the support price for procurement of wheat and rice to
maintain their stocks. Food Corporation of India.
The FCI procures food grains from the farmers at the government announced minimum
support price.
The competition for land between non – agriculture uses such as housing etc.,
The farmers are badly affected by the uncertainties of production and market.
The higher the supply the lower is the demand.

18. Explain the impact of globalization on Agriculture.

Ans: Impact of Globalization on Agriculture:

Globalization is not a new phenomenon. It was there at the time of colonization.

 Till today it is one of the important items of export from India.
Cotton textile industry in Manchester and Liverpool flourished due to the availability of good
quality cotton from India.
The Chamaran movement which started in 1917 in Bihar.
Under globalization, particularly after 1990, the farmer in India have been exposed to new
challenges.

19. What are the major Problems of Indian Agriculture?

Ans: 1. Instability:
Agriculture in India is largely depending on monsoon. As a result, production of food-grains
fluctuates year after year.

2. Cropping Pattern: recent years there has occurred a fall in agricultural production mainly due to
fall in the output of non-food articles.

3. Land Ownership:
Although the ownership of agricultural land in India is fairly widely distributed, there is some
degree of concentration of land holding. Inequality in land distribution is also due to the fact that
there are frequent changes in land ownership in India.

4. Sub-Division and Fragmentation of Holding:

Due to the growth of population and breakdown of the joint family system, there has occurred
continuous sub-division of agricultural land into smaller and smaller plots.

5. Land Tenure:

The land tenure system of India is also far from perfect. In the pre-independence period, most
tenants suffered from insecurity of tenancy.

6. Other problems.

(i) The systems and techniques of farming,

(ii) The marketing of agricultural products and

(iii) The indebtedness of the farmers.