World Agriculture: Typology of Agricultural Regions | Geography Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

Introduction to Agricultural Classification

• Agricultural classification primarily involves two key concepts: agricultural systems and agricultural regions.
• The classification is based on similarities in agricultural practices such as crop types, production methods, and land use.
• Various geographers have attempted to outline types of subsistence and commercial agriculture globally, with some creating maps displaying regional distributions.

Agricultural Regions' Characteristics

• Agricultural regions denote areas sharing similarities in agriculture, encompassing crop types, production methods, and land use practices.
• Notable geographers contributing to agricultural region classification include Dr. Hetington, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. Whittlesey.
• Dr. Derwent Whittlesey's 1936 map of agricultural regions is widely referenced, identifying 11 main agricultural regions worldwide and an area devoid of agriculture.

Whittlesey's Approach to Classification

• Whittlesey categorized agricultural practices based largely on climate as the primary determinant.
• Although Whittlesey suggested criteria for classifying agriculture into different regions, he did not propose quantitative measurements for these criteria, despite their potential quantifiability.

Criteria for Agricultural Classification

• Whittlesey's identified criteria for categorizing agricultural regions, focusing on climate and agricultural practices.
• However, he did not establish specific quantitative measures, even though some criteria were feasibly measurable.

Agricultural Regions in India

• The classification of agricultural regions extends to specific countries like India, where diverse agricultural practices and climates contribute to regional variations.
• Understanding India's agricultural regions involves considering the types of agriculture practiced, their geographical distribution, and the influencing factors.

Agricultural Regions of the World

Agricultural Regionalization Overview

• Agricultural regionalization is an ancient concept alongside agricultural systems, but perspectives on defining regions and methods for delineation have varied significantly.
• Diverse views persist regarding what constitutes an agricultural region and how to demarcate them.
• Different agricultural regionalizations have been based solely on natural conditions or a combination of natural conditions and agricultural activities.

Whittlesey's Classification (1936)

• D. Whittlesey proposed a notable classification of agricultural regions in 1936.
• Identified 13 primary types of agricultural regions based on specific criteria:
  • Nomadic herding
  • Livestock ranching
  • Shifting cultivation
  • Rudimental sedentary tillage
  • Intensive subsistence, rice dominant
  • Intensive subsistence without rice
  • Commercial plantation
  • Mediterranean agriculture
  • Commercial grain farming
  • Commercial livestock and crop farming
  • Subsistence crop and livestock farming
  • Commercial dairy farming
  • Specialized horticulture

Quantitative Criteria for Classification

• Whittlesey's criteria are measurable and could be utilized in a quantitative classification of agricultural regions and land usage types.
• However, data scarcity and lack of statistics limit the comprehensive application of these criteria for many regions currently.

Validity and Superiority of Whittlesey's Classification

• Whittlesey's classification is considered superior due to logically selected and well-defined criteria that cover a wide range of agricultural activities.
• It surpasses previous classifications in its comprehensiveness and clarity.

Whittlesey's Concept and Critique

• While termed as a classification, Whittlesey's regions are not contiguous across landmasses, as most are scattered across multiple continents.
• The sequential arrangement of regions, from primitive to advanced, aligns closely with the concept of agricultural systems rather than traditional regionalization.

The Problem of Classifying Agricultural Regions

Dominance of Crop and Livestock Farming in Land Use

• Crop cultivation and livestock farming occupy the largest areas of land and are easily observable, making them suitable for geographic classification and analysis.

Husbandry

• Tillage of soil and animal pasturage are grounded in an enduring collaboration between humans and the land, termed as husbandry.
• This contrasts with extractive industries that take from the earth without provisions for renewal and other activities like manufacturing and trade that use land merely as a localized site.

Deficiency in Language

• English lacks a comprehensive term for both plant and animal husbandry, using "agriculture" in its place.
• Various industries, usually extractive, incorporate provisions for renewal (e.g., farmed forests, closed seasons on game and fish), while overgrazing and "soil mining" signify exploitation within agricultural realms.

Complexity of Classification

• Classification and definitions tend to oversimplify complex realities, illustrating a blurred line between extraction and husbandry.
• The term "agriculture," often associated with field cultivation, includes livestock pasturage on natural grasslands and even forestry in some dictionaries and governmental jurisdictions.

Objective of the Presented Classification

• The classification aims to categorize all agricultural practices into regions of similar significance, ensuring uniformity in magnitude across various types of agriculture.

Basis of Classification

• This classification categorizes regions solely based on inherent agricultural properties, unlike some attempts that consider external conditions.
• Analogous to climate classifications based on temperature, moisture, and air currents, this approach focuses on the inherent characteristics of agricultural practices.

Critique of Previous Attempts

• Previous classifications in geography, such as soil classifications, have often been influenced by extraneous conditions rather than inherent elements.
• The persistent attempt to base classifications on external conditions is evident in agriculture classifications as well.

The Classification

Objective of the Classification

• Aims to categorize all agricultural regions with equal significance, based on inherent properties of agriculture practiced.

Forces Determining Regional Patterns

• Classification of agricultural regions influenced by two primary forces:
  • Environmental conditions (climate, soil, slope) that define the range and optimal habitats for crops and animals.
  • Human circumstances (population density, technological stage, inherited tradition) that utilize plant and animal habitats to meet human needs.

Relationship between Climate and Agriculture

• Climate significantly impacts what crops can be grown and the distribution of mature soils, aligning three major agricultural region groups with climatic types: dryland, low latitude wetland, and middle latitude wetland.

Effect of Extreme Climates on Agriculture

• Extreme climates such as driest deserts or coldest high latitudes and altitudes inhibit agriculture, while less adverse climates, when combined with other limitations like infertile soil or ruggedness, create unfarmable areas.

Comparison with Climate Classifications

• Similar to climate classifications based on inherent characteristics, this agricultural classification is founded on inherent properties rather than extraneous conditions.

Discrepancies between Climate and Agriculture Maps

• Despite general resemblances between climate and agriculture maps, marked differences exist.
• Agricultural systems in dry interior Asia-Africa differ from those in dry interior Americas and Australia. Similarly, humid middle latitudes in the northern hemisphere differ from their southern counterparts.
• East and south Asian agriculture (e.g., China and India) differ significantly from similar climates in other continents, indicating cultural, societal, and technological differences rather than soil or slope variations.

Variables Influencing Agricultural Landscapes

• Key variables in differentiating agricultural regions include climate, soil, slope, population density, technological stage, and tradition.
• Interaction among these variables shapes the cultural landscape of agriculture, reflecting and facilitating its functioning.

Types of Agriculture

Agricultural Classification based on Criteria:

• Agriculture exhibits diverse characteristics, leading to various classification criteria, including farming scale, crop-livestock combinations, intensity, disposal methods, and mechanization levels.

Types of Agriculture Worldwide:

• Nomadic Herding: Found in semi-arid and arid regions, focused on rearing animals on natural pastures for subsistence living.
• Livestock Ranching: Emphasizes animal rearing but practiced by settled farmers in areas with large grazing spaces (North America, South America, Australia) for commercial purposes.
• Shifting Cultivation: Prevalent in rainy tropics, involves clearing forest for cultivation using slash-and-burn techniques for a few years before abandonment.
• Rudimentary Sedentary Tillage: Subsistence farming in tropical regions, cultivating the same plot continuously, sometimes growing tree crops like rubber alongside grain crops.
• Intensive Subsistence Farming with Rice Dominance: Found in high-density population tropical areas with ample precipitation, focusing on rice cultivation (e.g., Southeast Asia).
• Intensive Subsistence Farming without Rice: Variant with less rainfall growing grain crops other than rice (wheat, millets) seen in areas of Asia, northern Africa, the Middle East, southern Africa, and Central America.
• Commercial Plantations: Cultivation of tropical crops (tea, coffee, rubber, oil palm) with significant commercial value, mainly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America influenced by European colonialism.
• Mediterranean Agriculture: Dominated by wheat, vineyards, citrus fruits, and small livestock due to the rugged relief in Mediterranean regions.
• Commercial Grain Farming: Mechanized farming in low rainfall areas practicing extensive cultivation, commonly monoculture of wheat; prevalent in prairies, steppes, and temperate grasslands.
• Livestock and Grain Farming (Mixed Farming): Developed in humid middle latitudes (except Asia) focusing on maximizing crop farming and animal rearing; common in Europe (e.g., Great Britain, New Zealand).
• Dairy Farming: Originated in Europe, thriving in proximity to markets and temperate climates; countries like Denmark and Sweden have witnessed significant development.
• Specialized Horticulture: Developed to meet high demand for horticultural products in densely populated urban areas of Europe, particularly in vineyard cultivation regions (e.g., France, northern Hungary, Swiss Lakes regions).
• Plantation Farming: Practiced in humid low latitudes with colonization history, growing crops like cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber, and tea; capital-intensive, irrigated, often on large corporate-owned land.

Agricultural Regions of India

Factors Considered in Determining Agricultural Regions in India

• Factors include rainfall, temperature, altitude, latitude, soils, and crops, leading to diverse classification approaches by various authors and organizations.

Classification Schemes by Different Authors/Organizations

• Dr. Chen Han Seng: Divided India into 16 regions based on topography, agricultural water supply, crop system, land tenure, and economic development.
• K. William Easter: Classified regions for agricultural planning into categories for crop production and agroclimatic planning. Divided India into 3 main divisions, 10 subdivisions, and 52 regions (excluding Himalayan regions).
• National Sample Survey Organisation: Divided India into 25 main agricultural regions with 66 sub-regions based on population density, crop pattern, altitude, and transport/communication facilities within states/union territories.

Randhawa's Classification of Agricultural Regions in India

5 Major Agricultural Regions Identified:

• Temperate Himalayan Region: Divided into Eastern Himalayan Region (high rainfall, forest-covered, tea plantations, paddy cultivation) and Horticultural areas.

• Northern Dry Region: Receives less than 75 cm rainfall; includes Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Madhya Pradesh; focuses on wheat, maize, cotton, sugarcane, and irrigated rice.

• Eastern Wet Region: Experiences more than 150 cm rainfall; includes West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Northeastern states; rice, tea, jute, and sugarcane are major crops.

• Western Wet Region (Malabar Region): Receives over 200 cm rainfall; includes Kerala, Karnataka; characterized by laterite and lateritic soils; focuses on plantation crops (coconut, cashew-nut, areca nut, rubber, pepper, cardamom) and rice.

• Southern Region (Millet Region): Receives 50-100 cm rainfall; covers parts of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh; crops include jowar, bajra, cotton, ragi, groundnut, and tobacco; staple food comprises coarse grains.

This classification scheme delineates India's agricultural regions based on diverse climatic conditions, soil types, and predominant crops cultivated in each region.

Conclusion

Whittlesey's comprehensive agricultural classification, while extensive, doesn't provide a permanent basis for regionalization. The agricultural landscape has experienced considerable changes since Whittlesey's study due to evolving market demands and advancing agricultural technology. The shift in consumer preferences, particularly increased demand for fruits and vegetables in urban areas, has led to alterations in land use across various regions worldwide. These evolving factors contribute to the dynamic nature of agricultural activities, highlighting the continuous changes and adaptations occurring within the agricultural sector.