Chapter 3

Land resources and agriculture

land is a natural resource

Humans use land resources for a variety of purposes

You may have noticed various uses of land around you.

Cultivation
building a school
Building a house
Road Construction
pasture
park
Cinema
hospital

The Land Revenue Department maintains land use records.

Land-use classification

1. Area under forests

Classified forest area and actual area under forests are different.
Forest areas classified by the government are demarcated in such a way that forests can grow.
This definition has been consistently adopted in the land revenue records.

2. Barren and waste land

Land that cannot be made cultivable using prevailing technology,
For example, barren hilly areas, deserts etc. have been classified as wastelands unfit for agriculture.

3. Land used for non-agricultural purposes

This category includes settlements (rural and urban), infrastructure (roads, canals etc.), land use for industries, shops etc.
Increase in secondary and tertiary activities leads to increase in land use of this category.

4. Permanent pasture areas

Most of this type of land is owned by the Gram Panchayat or the government.
Only a small portion of this land is privately owned.
The land owned by the Gram Panchayat is called 'common property resources'.

5. Area under miscellaneous tree crops and groves

This includes the land on which there are gardens and fruit trees.
Most of this type of land is privately owned by individuals.

6. Cultivable wasteland

Land that has remained fallow or uncultivated for the last five years or more
It can be improved by land reclamation techniques and made suitable for agriculture.

7. Presently fallow land

Land which remains uncultivated for one agricultural year or less is called current fallow land.
It is a cultural practice to keep the land fallow to maintain the quality of the land.
With this method, the depleted fertility or nutrition of the land returns naturally.

8. Ancient Fallow Land

This is also cultivable land that remains uncultivated for more than one year but less than five years.
If any land remains uncultivated for more than five years then it is included in cultivable wasteland.

9. Net Sown Area

The land on which crops are grown and harvested is called net sown area.

Shared Property Resources

On the basis of ownership of land, it is broadly divided into two categories-

1. Private Real Estate

This type of land is privately owned by individuals or jointly owned by some individuals.

2. Shared property resources

Such lands are owned by the states for community use. Common property resources provide fodder for animals, fuel for domestic use, wood as well as other forest products such as fruits, fibres, nuts, medicinal plants etc.

These lands are of special importance in the livelihood of landless small farmers and other economically weaker sections in rural areas; because most of them are landless and depend on livelihood from animal husbandry.

Common property resources can also be called community natural resources, where all members have the right to use it. Community forests, pastures, rural water areas and other public places are such examples of common property resources.

Agricultural land use in India

The importance of land resources is greater for those whose livelihood depends on agriculture:

1. Agriculture is completely dependent on land, hence landlessness in rural areas is directly related to poverty there.

2. Land quality affects agricultural productivity which is not the case with other crops.

3. In rural areas, land ownership has not only economic value but also social value and serves as a security against natural calamities or personal adversity and enhances prestige in society.

Crop Seasons in India

In the northern and interior parts of our country there are three main crop seasons known as Kharif, Rabi and Zayed.

1. Kharif crops are mostly sown with the south-west monsoon like rice, cotton, jute, sorghum, millet and pigeon pea etc.

2. Rabi season starts from autumn in October-November and ends in March-April. It is helpful in sowing crops like wheat, gram, and mustard etc.

3. Zaid is a short-term summer crop season which begins after the harvesting of Rabi. Watermelon, cucumber, kachori, vegetables, fodder etc. are grown in this season.

Types of agriculture

Depending upon the major available source of moisture, agriculture is classified into irrigated agriculture and rain-fed agriculture.

1. Protected irrigation agriculture

The main purpose of protected irrigation is to save the crops from getting destroyed due to lack of moisture
The shortage of water other than rain is met through irrigation.
The purpose of this type of irrigation is to provide adequate moisture to maximum area.

2. Productive irrigation agriculture

Purpose of Productive Irrigation
Maximum productivity has to be achieved by providing adequate amount of water to the crops.
The amount of water investment in productive irrigation is more than that in protected irrigation.

rain dependent agriculture

1. Dry land agriculture

Dry land farming in India is mainly limited to those regions where annual rainfall is less than 75 cm. In these areas, crops capable of tolerating drought such as ragi, millet, moong, gram and cluster bean (fodder crops) etc. are grown. In these areas, many methods are adopted for moisture conservation and use of rainwater.

2. Dry land agriculture

Dry land farming in India is mainly limited to those regions where annual rainfall is less than 75 cm. In these areas, crops capable of tolerating drought such as ragi, millet, moong, gram and cluster bean (fodder crops) etc. are grown. In these areas, many methods are adopted for moisture conservation and use of rainwater.

Food grain crop

The importance of food grains in the Indian agricultural economy can be measured by the fact that food grain crops are grown on two-thirds of the total cultivated area of the country. Food grain crops are predominant in all parts of the country, irrespective of whether there is a subsistence economy or a commercial agricultural economy.

Cereal

In India, about 54 percent of the total cultivated area is used for growing cereals. India is at the third place after America and China by producing about 11 percent of the world's grains . India produces various types of grains such as rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi etc.

1. Rice

Rice is the staple food of most of the population of India. Although it is a tropical humid crop,
It has many varieties which are grown in different agro-climatic regions.
Its cultivation is done successfully in many parts of Eastern India and the dry but irrigated areas of North-Western India like Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Northern Rajasthan.
In the southern states and West Bengal, due to favourable climate, two or three crops of rice are sown in an agricultural year.
Farmers in West Bengal grow three crops of rice called Aus, Aman and Boron.
But in the Himalayas and north-western parts of the country it is grown as a Kharif crop in the south-west monsoon season.
India produces 22.07 percent of the world's rice
And India ranks second in the world after China (2018).

2. Wheat

Wheat is the second major cereal in India after rice.
India produces 12.8 percent of the world's wheat (2017).
It is mainly a temperate crop. Therefore, it is sown in autumn, the sunny season.
85 percent of the area under this crop is concentrated in the north central part of India
Being a Rabi crop, it is grown only in areas with irrigation facilities.
Wheat is cultivated on about 14 percent of the total sown area of the country.
The major wheat producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
In Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, wheat cultivation is rain-fed and productivity is low.

3. Jowar

Coarse grains are sown on 16.5 percent of the total cultivated area of the country. Jowar (sorghum) is the main crop among them
It is the main food crop of the semi-arid areas of South and Central India.
The state of Maharashtra alone produces more than half of the country's jowar.
Other major jowar producing states are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In the southern states it is sown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons.
But in North India it is a Kharif crop and is mainly grown as a fodder crop.

4. Millets

Millet is sown in the hot and dry climate of the western and north-western parts of India.
This crop is able to tolerate the dry spells and droughts of this region.
It is sown as a single and mixed crop.
The major millet producing states are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

5. Corn

Maize is a food and fodder crop grown in low quality soils and semi-arid climatic conditions.
This crop is sown in only 3.6 percent of the total sown area.
It is sown in almost all parts of the country except eastern and north-eastern India.
The major maize producing states are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

6. Chickpeas

Gram is mainly a rain-fed crop, it is sown in Rabi season.
Only one or two light showers of rain or one or two irrigations are required to grow this crop successfully.
With the advent of the Green Revolution in Haryana, Punjab and Northern Rajasthan, the area under gram cultivation has decreased and it is being replaced by wheat.
The major producing states of this crop are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.
Its productivity is low and even in irrigated areas its productivity fluctuates from one year to another.

7. Pigeon pea

It is the second major pulse crop of the country.
It is also known as red gram and pigeon pea.
It is sown in rain-fed conditions and marginal lands in the dry parts of the central and southern states of the country.
About one-third of the country's total pigeon pea production comes from Maharashtra alone.
Other major producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The per hectare productivity of this crop is low and irregular.

8. Oilseeds

Oilseeds are cultivated to extract edible oil.
Malwa Plateau, Marathwada, Gujarat, dry parts of Rajasthan, Telangana and Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh,
These are the major oilseed producing areas of India.
The major oilseed crops of India include groundnut, toria, mustard, soybean and sunflower.

9. Peanuts

India produces 18.8 percent of peanuts in the world (2018)
It is mainly a rain-fed Kharif crop of dry areas.
But in South India it is sown in Rabi season.
Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh are its leading producing states.
In Tamil Nadu, wherever the crop is partially irrigated,

10. Mustard

Many oilseeds are included in toria and mustard, such as mustard, toria and taramira etc.
It is sown during Rabi season in the central and north-western parts of India.
Their production has increased with the spread of irrigation, seed improvement and technology.
One-third of its production comes from Rajasthan and other major producing states are Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

11. Other oilseeds

Soybean and sunflower are other important oilseeds of India.
Soybean is mostly grown in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Both these states together produce about 90 percent of the country's soybean.
Produces soybeans.
Sunflower crop is grown in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and adjoining parts of Maharashtra

Fibre Crops

These crops provide us with fibres to make clothes, bags, sacks and many other things. Cotton and jute are the two major fibre crops of India.

1. Cotton

Cotton is a tropical crop sown in the Kharif season in the semi-arid parts of the country.
At the time of partition of the country, a large cotton producing area of India went to Pakistan.
Its area has increased continuously in India in the last 50 years.
India produces both short staple (Indian) and long staple (American) cotton.
American cotton is called 'Narma' in the north-western part of the country.
India ranks second in the world in cotton production after China.
Cotton is sown on about 4.7 percent of the total sown area of the country.
Leading cotton producing states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.

2. Jute

Jute is used in making thick clothes, bags, sacks and other decorative items.
It is a commercial crop of West Bengal and eastern parts.
During partition, the country's vast jute producing area went to East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
Today India produces about 60 percent of the world's jute.

Planted Crops

1. Sugarcane

Sugarcane is a tropical crop.
In India, it can be cultivated mostly in irrigated areas.
Most of its sowing in the Ganga-Indus plains is limited to Uttar Pradesh.
The sugarcane producing region in western India extends up to Maharashtra and Gujarat.
In South India, it is cultivated in the irrigated areas of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
India was the second largest sugarcane producing country after Brazil
Uttar Pradesh produces 40 percent of the country's sugarcane.
Its other major producing states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

2. Tea

Tea is a plantation crop used as a beverage.
Caffeine and tannin are found in abundance in tea leaves.
Tea cultivation in India started in 1840 in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, which is still the major tea producing region of the country.
Later its cultivation was started in the sub-Himalayan areas of West Bengal (Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts).
In the south, tea is cultivated on the lower slopes of the Nilgiri and Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats.
India is a leading tea producer country and produces about 21.22 percent of the world's tea.
The share of Indian tea in the international market has decreased.
India ranks second in the world among tea-exporting countries after China (2018).

3. Coffee

Coffee is a tropical plantation crop.
Its seeds are roasted and ground and used as a drink.
There are three varieties of coffee; Arabica, Robusta and Liberica.
India produces mostly premium quality 'Arabica' coffee, which is in great demand in the international market.
But only 3.17 percent of the world's coffee is produced in India.
India ranks eighth in the world (2018), after Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia, Honduras, Ethiopia and Peru.
It is cultivated on the high lands of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
More than two-thirds of the country's total coffee production comes from the state of Karnataka alone.

Agricultural development in India

Before independence, Indian agriculture was like a subsistence economy. Its performance was very pathetic till the middle of the twentieth century. This was the time of severe famine and drought. During the partition of the country, about one-third of the irrigated land went to Pakistan. As a result, the ratio of irrigated area in independent India remained low.

After independence, the immediate objective of the government was to increase the production of food grains for which the following measures were adopted

Growing of food grains in place of commercial crops.
Increasing agricultural intensity and converting cultivable wasteland and fallow land into agricultural land.
Initially this policy increased food grain production, but by the end of the 1950s agricultural production stagnated.
To overcome this problem, Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP) and Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP) were started.
But in the mid-1960s, two consecutive famines created a food crisis in the country.
As a result, food grains had to be imported from other countries.
In the mid-1960s, new high-yielding varieties of wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) became available for cultivation.

'green Revolution'

1. India took advantage of this and adopted these high yielding varieties (HYV) along with chemical fertilizers as a package technology in the irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

2. For the success of new agricultural technology, assured water supply through irrigation was pre-requisite. This policy of agricultural development led to unprecedented increase in the production of food grains.

3. Green Revolution encouraged the development of agro-based industries and small scale industries used in agriculture like fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural machinery etc.

4. With this policy of agricultural development, the country became self-sufficient in the production of food grains. But initially the 'Green Revolution' was limited to the irrigated areas of the country; as a result, regional inequality in agricultural development increased.

5. The Planning Commission introduced agro-climatic planning in 1988 to promote regional balance in agricultural development. It also emphasized on the development of resources for the development of agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture.

Increase in agricultural production and development of technology

There has been a significant increase in agricultural production and technology over the last fifty years.
There has been an impressive increase in the production and yield of many crops such as rice and wheat. The production of other crops, mainly sugarcane, oilseeds and cotton, has also increased appreciably.
The spread of irrigation has played an important role in increasing agricultural production in the country.
This has provided the basis for the use of modern agricultural technology such as better varieties of seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and machinery.

Problems of Indian Agriculture

1. Dependence on erratic monsoon

Only one-third of the agricultural area in India is irrigated.
In the rest of the agricultural area, crop production is directly dependent on rain.
The uncertainty and irregularity of the south-west monsoon affects the canal water supply for irrigation.
On the other hand, in Rajasthan and other areas the rainfall is very scanty and highly unreliable.
Even in areas with high annual rainfall, there is a lot of variation. As a result, this area is vulnerable to both drought and floods. Drought is a common phenomenon in areas with low rainfall, but floods also occur here occasionally.
The flash floods in the dry areas of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan in 2006 and 2017 are examples of this phenomenon. Drought and floods continue to be a threat to Indian agriculture.

2. Low productivity

Crop productivity in India is low compared to international levels.
In India, the per hectare yield of most crops like rice, wheat, cotton and oilseeds is less than that of America, Russia and Japan.
Labour productivity in India is also very low compared to international levels due to high pressure on land resources.
Most of the coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds are cultivated in the vast rain-dependent, especially dry areas of the country and their productivity is very low here.

3. Indebtedness

Modern agriculture involves huge costs.
Agricultural savings of marginal and small farmers are very little or negligible.
Hence they are unable to invest in resource intensive agriculture.
To overcome these problems, many farmers take loans from various institutions and money lenders.
Due to decreasing income from agriculture and crop failure, they are getting trapped in the debt trap.

4. Lack of land reforms

Indian farmers have long been exploited due to unequal distribution of land. During the British rule, out of the three land revenue systems- Mahalwari, Ryotwari and Zamindari, the Zamindari system has been the most exploitative for the farmers.
After independence, land reforms were given priority, but these reforms did not fully materialise due to weak political will.
Most state governments refrained from taking tough political decisions against politically powerful landlords.
The lack of land reforms has resulted in continued unequal distribution of cultivable land, which has hindered agricultural development.

5. Small farms and fragmented holdings

The number of marginal and small farmers is high in India. More than 60 percent of farmers have land holdings smaller than one hectare and about 40 percent of farmers have land holdings of less than 0.5 hectares.
Due to increasing population the average size of these holdings is shrinking further.
Apart from this, most of the land holdings in India are scattered. In some states, consolidation has not been done even once.
In those states where consolidation has already taken place, there is a need for re-consolidation because the process of land division in the next generation has again led to fragmentation of land holdings.
Fragmented and small land holdings are economically unprofitable.

6. Lack of commercialization

Most farmers grow crops for their own needs or self-consumption.
These farmers do not have enough land resources to produce more than their needs.
Most of the marginal and small farmers cultivate food grains, which fulfills their family needs.
Agriculture is being modernized and commercialized in irrigated areas.

7. Widespread underemployment

There is widespread underemployment in Indian agriculture, especially in unirrigated areas.
In these areas there is seasonal unemployment which lasts for 4 to 8 months.
Employment is not available throughout the year, even during the harvest season, because agricultural work is not continuously labour-intensive.
Therefore, people working in agriculture do not get the opportunity to work throughout the year.

Degradation of agricultural land

Faulty policies of irrigation and agricultural development are reducing the fertility of the soil
This problem is especially serious in irrigated areas.
A large part of agricultural land has become barren due to waterlogging, salinity and soil alkalinity.
Excessive use of pesticides has led to concentration of toxic elements in the soil.

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Land Resources and Agriculture Notes in English Class 12 Geography Chapter-3 Book-India-People And Economy