Test: Agriculture - 2 - UPSC MCQ

• Rural forestry (also known as community forestry) aims to raise the trees on community land and privately owned land as in farm forestry.

• Farm forestry encouraged individual farmers to plant trees on their farmland to meet the domestic needs of the family. All these schemes are taken up under the social forestry programme.

1. Rapid rate of increase in population.

2. Practice of dividing land equally among the heirs.

There are three basic types of irrigation here in India which I describe here below briefly:-

CANALS

Canals are one of the oldest amd most important sources of irrigation in India. Canal irrigation is, however, largely confined to the Great Plains of India (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal) and the fertile plains if India (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh Odisha and Tamil Nadu). Some popular canals are The Bari Doab Canal, Bhakhra Canal, Indhira Gandhi Canal, Eastern and Western Yamuna Canals, The Ganga Canal, Agra and Sharda Canals are some of the important irrigation system of India.

WELL AND TUBEWELLS

Well and tubewells irrigates the largest cropped area of the country. About 54 percent of the total irrigated are is under tubewell and well irrigation. Tubewell irrigation is extensively developed in Northern Plains of India. About 95 percent of the tubewells are located in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujrat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Odisha.

TANKS

Tank irrigation is generally practiced in the eastern part of the Deccan Plateau where the topography is suitable for erecting dams across small rivulets and for the collection of water in artificial tanks. Tanks are found in large number in the districts of Chengalpattu, North Arcot and South Arcot in Tamil Nadu, Nellore and Warangal districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Tea is the major cash crop

• The state of Assam is the world’s largest tea-growing region, lying on either side of the Brahmaputra River, and bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.

• This part of India experiences high precipitation; during the monsoon period, as much as 10 to 12 inches (250–300 mm) of rain per day.

• The daytime temperature rises to about 96.8F (36 °C), creating greenhouse-like conditions of extreme humidity and heat. This tropical climate contributes to Assam’s unique malty taste, a feature for which this tea is well known.

• Kerala is the largest producer of natural rubber producing 595 thousand tonnes or 92 per cent of total rubber production of India in 2002-03.

• Kottayam, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kozhikode districts produce practically all the rubber of this state.

• Tamil Nadu is the second-largest producer of rubber but lags far behind Kerala producing only 22 thousand or 3.39 per cent of the total Indian production in 2002-03. Nilgiri, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Salem are the chief rubber-producing districts of Tamil Nadu.

• Jhum (Shifting) cultivation is a primitive practice of cultivation in States of North Eastern Hill Region of India and people involved in such cultivation is called Jhumia.

• The practice involves clearing vegetative/forest cover on land/slopes of hills, drying and burning it before the onset of monsoon and cropping on it thereafter.

• After harvest, this land is left fallow and vegetative regeneration is allowed on it till the plot becomes reusable for the same purpose in a cycle. Meanwhile, the process is repeated in a new plot designated for Jhum cultivation during next year.

The shaded area on the map is major cotton producer states in India. Cotton-producing states in India are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, etc.

Tea in Assam and Coffee in Brazil are mono-culture crops provides immediate cash to the farmers.

Farmers are advised to mix lime with soil while farming their fields because it increases the pH of acidic soil (the higher the pH the less acidic the soil); in other words, soil acidity is reduced and alkalinity increased.

Castor plants are not used for rearing silkworms. Castor oil has many uses in medicine and other applications.

• In India, Jute (corchorus spp) is produced in West Bengal (Ist rank}, Bihar and Assam mainly. Jute grows well in loamy soils under hot and humid conditions-as ideal climatic condition.

• Generally, Maize/Moong/Urd (spring season)- Jute-Rice crop rotation is followed, while Jute rice-wheat rotation is followed on less amount.