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Agriculture Summary Class 10 Social Science Chapter 4

Introduction


India is a country where agriculture plays a vital role. About two-thirds of its people are involved in farming, which produces most of the food we eat. Besides food grains, agriculture also supplies raw materials for various industries. Additionally, products like tea, coffee, and spices are exported.

Types of Farming

Agriculture is an ancient economic activity in India. Over time, farming methods have evolved based on the environment, technology, and cultural practices. Farming styles range from subsistence to commercial. Currently, various farming systems are practised across India:

  • Primitive Subsistence Farming: This farming type is still found in some regions. Farmers clear small areas of land to grow cereals and other food crops for their families. It involves 'slash and burn' techniques using simple tools like hoes and digging sticks, relying on family and community labour. This method depends on the monsoon, soil fertility, and the environment's suitability for the crops.
  • Intensive Subsistence Farming: This labour-intensive farming uses a lot of chemical inputs and irrigation to achieve higher yields. Key features include the use of modern inputs such as high-yield variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides, and pesticides. This farming type is common where land is limited. The level of commercial farming differs across regions; for example, rice is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab but a subsistence crop in Odisha.
  • Commercial Farming: This style involves cultivating large areas with modern inputs like HYV seeds and chemical fertilisers. A single crop is grown extensively, and plantations connect agriculture with industry. These plantations, which include tea, coffee, rubber, and sugarcane, use significant capital and migrant labour. Important plantation crops include tea in Assam and North Bengal and coffee in Karnataka.

Cropping Pattern

India experiences three cropping seasons:

  • Rabi: Rabi crops are sown in winter, from October to December, and harvested in summer, from April to June. Key rabi crops include wheat, barley, peas, gram, and mustard.
  • Kharif: Kharif crops are planted with the arrival of the monsoon and harvested in September-October. Important kharif crops are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut, and soyabean.
  • Zaid: This short season occurs between rabi and kharif during summer. Key crops grown during this time include watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, various vegetables, and fodder crops.

Major Crops


Major crops grown in India are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute, etc.

  • Rice:
    • Staple food crop
    • Our country is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.
    • It is a kharif crop which requires high temperature, (above 25°C) and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm.
    • It is grown in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions.
  • Wheat:
    • The second most important cereal crop.
    • It is the main food crop, in north and north-western part of the country.
    • This rabi crop requires a cool growing season with 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall and a bright sunshine at the time of ripening.
    • Wheat growing regions are the Ganga-Satluj plains in the north- west and black soil region of the Deccan.
  • Millets:
    • Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in India.
    • These have very high nutritional value.
  • Pulses:
    • India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of pulses in the world.
    • Major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.
    • These need less moisture and survive even in dry conditions.
    • Major producing states in India are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Food Crops other than Grains

  • Sugarcane:
    • It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop. 
    • It grows well in hot and humid climate with a temperature of 21°C to 27°C and an annual rainfall between 75 cm. and 100 cm.
    • Major producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
  • Oil Seeds:
    • The oil seeds covers approximately 12 percent of the total cropped area of the country.
    • These are used as cooking mediums as well as used as raw material in the production of soap, cosmetics and ointments.
  • Tea:
    • Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture.
    • It is an important beverage crop introduced in India initially by the British.
    • It requires warm and moist frost-free climate with frequent showers all through the year.
    • Major producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
  • Coffee:
    • Indian coffee is known in the world for its good quality.
    •  Its cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
  • Horticulture Crops:
    • India is a producer of tropical as well as temperate fruits.
    • India produces about 13 percent of the world’s vegetables.

Non-Food Crops

  • Rubber: 
    • It is an equatorial crop, but under special conditions, it is also grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas. 
    • It requires moist and humid climate with rainfall of more than 200 cm. and temperature above 25°C.
    • It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar islands and Garo hills of Meghalaya.
  • Fibre Crops:
    • Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk are the four major fibre crops grown in India.
    • Rearing of silk worms for the production of silk fibre is known as sericulture.
  • Cotton:
    • It is a kharif crop grows well in drier parts of the black cotton soil of the Deccan plateau. 
    • It requires high temperature, light rainfall or irrigation, 210 frost-free days and bright sun-shine for its growth.
    • Major producing states are – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
  • Jute:
    • It grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood plains where soils are renewed every year.
    • Major jute-producing states West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya.
    • It is used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, yarn, carpets and other artefacts.

Technological and Institutional Reforms

  • More than 60 percent of India's population depends on agriculture.
  • After independence, major institutional reforms such as Collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, cooperation and abolition of zamindari, etc. were given priority.
  • In 1960s and 1970s, technical reforms such as Green Revolution and White Revolution also introduced to improved the condition of agriculture.
  • In 1980s and 1990s, various provisions for crop insurance, establishment of Grameen banks, cooperative societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at lower rates of interest.
  • Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) are some other schemes introduced by the Government of India for the benefit of the farmers.
  • Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers were introduced on the radio and television.
  • Minimum support price, remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.

Contribution of Agriculture to the National Economy, Employment and Output

  • In 2010-11, over 60 percent of India's population was involved in agriculture.
  • While India's GDP growth rate has been rising, it does not provide enough job opportunities in agriculture.
  • There is a strong need for serious technical and institutional reforms to tackle employment issues in agriculture.

Food Security

  • The government created a national food security system to guarantee food access for every citizen.
  • This system has two components: a buffer stock and a public distribution system (PDS).
  • The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is responsible for procuring and storing food grains.
  • The PDS ensures distribution of food grains and other essentials at subsidised prices in both rural and urban areas.
  • The main aim of national food security is to make food grains available to everyone at an affordable price.
  • Ensuring that the poor can access food is crucial.
  • Growth in agricultural production is also important, alongside fixing the support price for procuring wheat and rice to maintain stocks.

Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture

  • Globalisation is present at the time of colonisation. 
    • During the British period, cotton was exported to Britain as a raw material for their textile industries.
  • After 1990, the farmers in India have been exposed to new challenges under globalisation.
    • The agricultural products of India are not able to compete with the developed countries because of the highly subsidised agriculture in those countries.
  • Genetic engineering is revolutionising the agricultural production now a days.
  • Organic farming is also in fashion these days because it is practised without factory made chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides. Hence, it does not affect environment in a negative manner.
  • Indian farmers should diversify their cropping pattern from cereals to high-value crops which will increase incomes and reduce environmental degradation simultaneously.
The document Agriculture Summary Class 10 Social Science Chapter 4 is a part of the Class 10 Course Social Studies (SST) Class 10.
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FAQs on Agriculture Summary Class 10 Social Science Chapter 4

1. कृषि क्या है और इसके महत्व क्या हैं ?
Ans. कृषि का तात्पर्य उन सभी गतिविधियों से है जो फसलों की खेती, पशुपालन, और अन्य कृषि उत्पादों के उत्पादन से संबंधित हैं। इसका महत्व यह है कि यह न केवल भोजन प्रदान करता है, बल्कि रोजगार, आर्थिक विकास, और ग्रामीण जीवन की गुणवत्ता में सुधार में भी मदद करता है।
2. भारत में कृषि की प्रमुख फसलें कौन सी हैं ?
Ans. भारत में प्रमुख फसलों में चावल, गेहूं, मक्का, ज्वार, बाजरा, गन्ना, और कपास शामिल हैं। ये फसलें न केवल घरेलू खपत के लिए महत्वपूर्ण हैं, बल्कि निर्यात के लिए भी महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाती हैं।
3. कृषि में आधुनिक तकनीकों का क्या योगदान है ?
Ans. आधुनिक तकनीकों जैसे कि ड्रिप इरिगेशन, जीन्स संशोधन, और उन्नत मशीनरी का उपयोग कृषि उत्पादन को बढ़ाने, संसाधनों के प्रयोग को कम करने, और फसलों की गुणवत्ता में सुधार करने में मदद करता है। ये तकनीकें किसानों की उत्पादकता और आय में वृद्धि करती हैं।
4. सूखा और बाढ़ का कृषि पर क्या प्रभाव पड़ता है ?
Ans. सूखा फसलों की उत्पादन क्षमता को गंभीरता से प्रभावित करता है, जिससे खाद्य संकट उत्पन्न हो सकता है। वहीं, बाढ़ मिट्टी की उर्वरता को कम करती है और फसलों को नष्ट कर सकती है। दोनों ही स्थितियों में किसानों को आर्थिक हानि होती है।
5. जैविक खेती के लाभ क्या हैं ?
Ans. जैविक खेती में रासायनिक उर्वरकों और कीटनाशकों का उपयोग नहीं किया जाता है, जिससे मिट्टी की उर्वरता बनी रहती है और पर्यावरण की सुरक्षा होती है। इसके अलावा, जैविक उत्पाद स्वास्थ्य के लिए अधिक सुरक्षित होते हैं और बाजार में उनकी मांग भी बढ़ रही है।
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