Uttar Pradesh: Agriculture | Course for UPPSC Preparation - UPPSC (UP) PDF Download

Introduction

Uttar Pradesh is a largest food grain producing State in India producing about 20% of the country’s total food grain production. In 2016-17 contribution of Uttar Pradesh was about 40 million tonnes in the national food grain production of 271.98 million tones. However, the state is also characterized by extreme dependence on agriculture. About 80% of the population in U.P. live in the rural areas. It is rich in national resources (land and water) but has a high population density and declining soil fertility. Agriculture accounts for about 32% of GSDP.

The State accounts for about 17 percent of all-India foodgrain area and 21 percent of production. Main crop of the State is Cereal and Pulses, Oilseeds are also grown in some area with low productivity. Relatively larger share in production is obviously attributed to higher foodgrain yield in the state

Uttar Pradesh: largest producer of wheat (30.00 million tonnes)

The State of Uttar Pradesh falls under three agro-climatic zones viz.

• Agro Climatic Zone–IV: Middle Gangetic Plains region
• Agro Climatic Zone–V: Upper Gangetic Plains region
• Agro Climatic Zone–VIII:  Central Plateau and Hills region.

The Agro-climatic zone IV is further divided into three sub-zone

• North Eastern Plains Zone of Uttar Pradesh: This sub-zone covers the districts of Baharaich, Gonda, Balrampur, Basti, Gorakhpur, Sidharth Nagar, Maharajgunj, Kushinagar and Deoria. Rainfall is quite high at about 1,210 mm, the climate is moist sub-humid to dry sub-humid. 73% of the land area is cultivated and about half of the cultivated land is irrigated. Tube wells are the major source of irrigation.
• Eastern Plain Zone of Uttar Pradesh: Azamgarh, Mau, Balia, Faizabad, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar and Varanasi districts fall under this sub zone. Rainfall is adequate with a normal of 1,025 mm. The climate is dry sub-humid to moist sub-humid. Over 70% of the land is cultivated and more than 80% of the cultivated area is irrigated.
• Vindhyan Zone of Uttar Pradesh: Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts of Uttar Pradesh are the Vindhyan sub-zone of the Middle Gangetic Plain zone. Rainfall is adequate at about 1,134 mm; the climate is similar to the other parts of the eastern plains of Uttar Pradesh. However, the region has a very high forest cover of about 40% of the land. Less than a third of this land is cultivated and only a third of this is irrigated. 

The Agro-climatic zone- V is among the larger and very thickly populated agro-climatic zones. It covers 32 districts of Uttar Pradesh. A large part of the geographical area is cultivated and is well irrigated. This is the most developed region of the State of Uttar Pradesh. Over 70% of the area is sown and nearly 65% of this is irrigated.  The zone is characterized by semi-arid and sub-humid conditions. The mean Annual rainfall varies between 700 and 1,000 mm.
There are three sub-zones under this agro-climatic zone.  

• Central Plains – Allahabad, Fatehpur, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Rae- Bareili, Unnao, Lucknow, Bara Banki, Sitapur, Hardoi, Kheri and Pilibhit districts fall under this sub-zone. The region receives on an average 979 mm of rainfall; the climate ranges from dry sub-humid to semi-arid and the soil is alluvium calcareous sandy loam. About 62% of the land is cultivated of which 56% is irrigated. 
• North-Western Plains– This sub-zone covers the districts of Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Rampur, Moradabad, Bijnor, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Bulandshar of Uttar Pradesh. This region has the highest land productivity in the State. About 70% land is under agriculture and another 5% land is under forest cover. 76% of the net sown area is irrigated. Tube wells are the predominant source of irrigation. The zone receives, on an average 907 mm rainfall, the climate is dry sub-humid to semi-arid and the soil is loam to sandy loam. 
• South-Western Plains- In spite of a relatively high proportion of arable and irrigated cropped area, land productivity in the southwestern plains of Uttar Pradesh is low. This is largely on account of cultivation of low value crops principally wheat and bajra. The region covers the districts of Badaun, Aligarh, Mathura, Agra, Etah, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Etawah, Kanpur Dehat and Kanpur. The climate is semi-arid and the soil type is alluvium calcareous clay. The region receives about 721 mm of rainfall. More than 74% of the net sown area is irrigated and over 69% land is cultivated. 

Under the Zone-VIII, the sub-zone Bundelkhand (Uttar Pradesh)  includes five districts from South-central Uttar Pradesh, viz. Jalaun, hansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Banda. It receives about 900 mm of rainfall. A little over 60% of the area is cultivated, but compared to other parts of Uttar Pradesh, the sub-zone has less developed irrigation facilities. Only about 25% of the cultivated area is irrigated as against a State average of nearly 60%. Soil erosion is high and land productivity is low. 

Cropping Pattern

• The soils in the region falling under Agro-climatic zone IV are alluvium-derived soils mostly khaddar (recent alluvium) and hangar (old alluvium). In some area the soil is highly calcareous. The soils are loamy and high in organic matter content. Rice, maize, pigeon pea, moong bean crops are common in kharif season. In post-rainy (rabi) season wheat, lentil, Bengal gram, pea, and sesame and at some places groundnut is grown on residual soil moisture with one or two supplemental irrigation. The important cash crops of the region are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, chillies, turmeric and coriander with supplemental irrigation. Rice–wheat cropping system is more predominant.
• The dominant soil landscapes, representing the northern plains, constitute gently to very gently sloping lands. In some area the soil is highly calcareous. The soils in general are neutral in reaction and have moderate clay and low organic carbon content. Traditionally rain fed and irrigated agriculture is common. The main crops grown are rice, maize, pigeon pea, sorghum, pearl millet, moong beans during kharif and wheat, Bengal gram, green peas, rapeseed and mustard and lentil during rabi season. Sugarcane is the main cash crop. Rice–wheat cropping system is more predominant.

Various Agriculture marketing schemes initiated in Uttar Pradesh are:

1. Farmers Help Line
2. Farmers Gift Scheme
3. Scholarship Scheme
4. Public Personal Accident Help Scheme
5. Burn Fire Accident Help Scheme
6. Procedure to find the rates on TVRS.

National EGovernance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A) introduced  to achieve rapid development of agriculture in India through the use of ICT. NeGP-A is proposed to be implemented across the country and aims at offering Government to Citizen / Farmer (G2C or G2F), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Government (G2G) agricultural services in an integrated manner through the Central Agriculture Portal (CAP) and State Agriculture Portals (SAPs).

The key objectives of the Project include:

• Bringing farmer centricity & service orientation to the programs
• Enhancing reach & impact of extension services
• Improving access of farmers to information & services throughout cropcycle
• Building upon, enhancing & integrating the existing ICT initiatives of Centre, and States
• Enhancing efficiency & effectiveness of programs through process redesign
• More effective management of schemes of DAC
• Promoting a common framework across states