Land resources and Agriculture India Flashcards
Geographical area vs reporting area
Former fixed, latter may change
Land use categories by land revenue records
- Forests
- Land put to Non-agricultural Uses
- Barren and Wastelands
- Area under Permanent Pastures and Grazing Lands
- Area under Miscellaneous Tree Crops and Groves(Not included is Net sown Area)-
- Culturable Waste-Land : Any land which is left fallow (uncultivated) for more than five years is included in this category.
- Current Fallow : This is the land which is left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year.
- Fallow other than Current Fallow : This is also a cultivable land which is left uncultivated for more than a year but less than five years.
- Net Area Sown : The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested is known as net sown area.
Land-use Changes in India
Increase-
(i) Non-agricultural land is rapidly increasing due to India’s focus on industry and services, often at the expense of agricultural land.
(ii) The rise in forest area results from more demarcated zones, not actual forest cover growth.
(iii) Current fallow land trends fluctuate significantly with rainfall and cropping cycles, making two data points insufficient for analysis.
Decrease-
(i) Increased pressure from agricultural and non-agricultural sectors has led to a decline in wastelands and culturable wasteland.
(ii) The decline in net area sown began in the late nineties, primarily due to expansion in non-agricultural use, such as building on agricultural land.
(iii) The reduction in pastures and grazing land is largely due to agricultural encroachment on common lands.
Common Property Resources (CPRs)
are state-owned lands for community use, distinct from private land. They provide vital resources like fodder and fuel, supporting landless and marginal farmers and benefiting women who collect these materials. CPRs are community-owned, accessible to all with shared responsibilities, and include community forests, pasture lands, and village water bodies.
Importance of land in agriculture
- Agriculture is a purely land based activity
- Quality of land direct bearing
- Social value and security
Total stock of agri resources
An estimation of the total stock of agricultural land resources (i.e. total cultivable land can be arrived at by adding up net sown area, all fallow lands and culturable wasteland. Over the years, there has been a marginal decline in the available total stock of cultivable land as a percentage to total reporting area. There has been a greater decline of cultivated land, in spite of a corresponding decline of cultivable wasteland.
Land saving technologies
No scope to bring further land, thus two types- raise productivity per crop or of per unit land.
Cropping Seasons in India
Kharif- June-September-Rice, Cotton, Maize, Bajra, Jowar, Tur, groundnut, soya
Rabi-October – March- Wheat, Barley Gram, Rapeseeds and Mustard
Zaid- April–June- Vegetables, Fruits, Fodder
However, this type of distinction in the cropping season does not exist in southern parts of the country. Here, the temperature is high enough to grow tropical crops during any period in the year provided the soil moisture is available. Therefore, in this region the same crops can be grown thrice in an agricultural year.
Cropping pattern CEREALS AS A WHOLE
- 54 per cent of total cropped area in India.
- The country produces about 11 per cent cereals of the world and ranks third in production after China and U.S.A
- fine grains (rice, wheat) and coarse grains (jowar, bajra, maize, ragi)
Cropping pattern Rice
About one-fourth of the total cropped area in the country is under rice cultivation.
India contributes about 1/4th of total percent of rice production in the world and ranks second after China.
High yield- Eastern (W Bengal),Coastal, Deltaic regions (Kerala, A.P, T.N.) and areas with irrigation Punjab, Haryana.
Moderate yield- UP
very low in rainfed areas of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
Types of Farming
- On the basis of main source of moisture for crops, the farming can be classified as irrigated and rainfed (barani).
- There is a difference based on the objective of irrigation as well, i.e. protective or productive- The objective of protective irrigation is to protect the crops from adverse effects of soil moisture deficiency which often means that irrigation acts as a supplementary source of water over and above the rainfall. Productive irrigation is meant to provide sufficient soil moisture in the cropping season to achieve high productivity.
- Rainfed farming is further classified
on the basis of adequacy of soil moisture. Dryland farming is largely confined to the regions having annual rainfall less than 75 cm. These regions grow hardy and drought resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar (fodder crops). In wetland farming, the rainfall is in excess of the soil moisture requirement of plants during the rainy season. Such regions may face flood and soil erosion hazards. These areas grow various water intensive crops such as rice, jute and sugarcane and practice aquaculture in the freshwater bodies.
Cropping pattern Wheat
About 14 per cent of the total cropped area in the country is under wheat cultivation.
India produces about 12 percent of total wheat production of world.
The yield level of wheat is very high (above 4,000 k.g. per ha) in Punjab and Haryana whereas, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar have moderate yields. The states like Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir growing wheat under rainfed conditions have low yield.
Foodgrains classification
On the basis of the structure of grain the foodgrains are classified as cereals and pulses.
Cropping pattern Jowar and Bajra
Cropping pattern Jowar and Bajra
5% of total area
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Maize (coarse-food and fodder) Cropping pattern
3%
Maize cultivation is not concentrated in any specific region. It is sown all over India except eastern and north-eastern regions. The leading producers of maize are the states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
