📘 Class 10 Geography – Chapter 4
🌾 Agriculture (कृषि)
🌱 Types of Farming (खेती के प्रकार)
🔹 Primitive Subsistence Farming (आदिम निर्वाह कृषि)
- Also called “Slash and Burn Agriculture”.
- Farmers clear a patch of land → grow cereals & food crops → when soil fertility decreases, they shift to another patch.
- Known as Jhumming in North-Eastern states.
- ❗ Features:
- Low land productivity
- Fully dependent on monsoon
- Still practised in some parts of India
🔹 Intensive Subsistence Farming (गहन निर्वाह कृषि)
- Common in areas with high population pressure on land.
- Labour-intensive farming.
- Uses irrigation + biochemical inputs (fertilisers, HYV seeds, pesticides) for higher yield.
🔹 Commercial Farming (व्यावसायिक कृषि)
- Uses modern inputs like HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides.
- Objective → High Productivity & Profit.
- Plantation Agriculture = A type of commercial farming:
- Single crop grown on large areas
- Capital + technology + migrant labourers
- Produce used as raw material in industries
- Examples 👉 Tea, Coffee, Rubber, Sugarcane, Banana
🌾 Cropping Pattern (फसल चक्र)
India has 3 major cropping seasons:
1️⃣ Rabi (रबी)
- Sowing Season: Winter (October–December)
- Harvesting Season: Summer (April–June)
- Main Crops: Wheat, Barley, Peas, Gram, Mustard
2️⃣ Kharif (खरीफ)
- Sowing Season: Beginning of monsoon (April–May)
- Harvesting Season: September–October
- Main Crops: Paddy, Maize, Jowar, Bajra, Tur (Arhar), Moong, Urad, Cotton, Jute, Groundnut, Soyabean
3️⃣ Zaid (ज़ैद)
- Season: Short summer season between Rabi & Kharif (March–July)
- Main Crops: Watermelon, Muskmelon, Cucumber, Vegetables, Fodder crops
✨ Exam Tip:
👉 याद रखो –
- Rabi = Winter sowing, Summer harvest
- Kharif = Monsoon sowing, Post-monsoon harvest
- Zaid = Short summer crops
🌱 Major Crops in India
🔹 India grows a variety of food and non-food crops due to variations in soil, climate, and farming practices.
👉 Major Crops: Rice, Wheat, Millets, Maize, Pulses, Sugarcane, Oilseeds, Cotton, Jute, Tea, Coffee & Horticulture Crops
🍚 Rice (चावल)
- Type: Kharif crop 🌧️
- Requirements: High temp 🌡️ + high humidity 💧 + rainfall > 100 cm
- Rank: 🇮🇳 2nd largest producer (after China)
- Areas: Plains of North & North-East, coastal areas, delta regions
🌾 Wheat (गेहूँ)
- Type: Rabi crop 🌤️
- Requirements: Cool growing season + bright sunshine ☀️ during ripening
- Rainfall: 50 – 75 cm (evenly spread)
- Zones: Ganga-Satluj plains, Black soil of Deccan
- Importance: 2nd most important cereal & staple food in North India
🌿 Millets (Jowar, Bajra, Ragi) – मोटे अनाज
💪 Known as Coarse Grains (nutritious)
- Jowar:
- 3rd most important food crop
- Rain-fed, moist areas
- States: Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, MP
- Bajra:
- Grows on sandy & shallow black soil
- States: Rajasthan, UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana
- Ragi:
- Crop of dry regions
- Grows on red, black, sandy, loamy soils
- States: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand
🌽 Maize (मक्का)
- Type: Kharif crop 🌧️
- Requirements: Temp 21°–27°C 🌡️ + old alluvial soil
- Uses: Food + Fodder 🐄
- States: Karnataka, MP, UP, Bihar, AP, Telangana
🫘 Pulses (Dalhan)
- 🇮🇳 Largest producer & consumer in world
- Source of protein 🥗 for vegetarians
- Crops: Tur (Arhar), Urad, Moong, Masur, Gram, Peas
- Feature: Grown in rotation (restores soil fertility)
- States: MP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, UP, Karnataka
🍬 Sugarcane (गन्ना)
- Tropical & subtropical crop 🌴
- Temp: 21°–27°C + rainfall 75–100 cm
- Labour-intensive 🚜
- 🇮🇳 2nd largest producer (after Brazil)
- Products: Sugar, Gur (Jaggery), Khandsari, Molasses
- States: UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana
🌻 Oilseeds (तिलहन)
Cover 12% of cropped area
- Groundnut (Kharif) – Gujarat leader
- Mustard (Rabi)
- Sesamum (Til) – Kharif (North), Rabi (South)
- Castor seeds – Both Kharif & Rabi
- Others: Linseed, Coconut, Soybean, Sunflower, Cottonseed
🍵 Tea (चाय)
- British introduced crop 🍂
- Needs: Tropical/sub-tropical climate + fertile soil + humid & warm conditions
- Labour-intensive 🧑🌾
- States: Assam, Darjeeling, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
☕ Coffee (कॉफी)
- Famous for Yemen variety
- Origin: Baba Budan Hills (Karnataka)
- Grown in: Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu
🍎 Horticulture Crops (फल-सब्ज़ियाँ)
India grows tropical & temperate fruits
- Mangoes: Maharashtra, UP, WB, AP, Telangana
- Oranges: Nagpur, Cherrapunji
- Bananas: Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram
- Lichi & Guava: UP, Bihar
- Pineapples: Meghalaya
- Grapes: Maharashtra, Telangana, AP
Apples, Pears, Walnuts: J&K, Himachal Pradesh
🌱 Non-Food Crops (गैर-खाद्य फसलें)
🌴 Rubber (रबर)
- Equatorial crop (भूमध्यरेखीय फसल)।
- Needs 25°C+ temperature & 200cm+ rainfall 🌧️.
- Mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Garo Hills (Meghalaya).
- Important industrial raw material.
🧵 Fibre Crops (रेशेदार फसलें)
👉 Cotton, Jute, Hemp & Silk are the four major fibre crops.
🌼 Cotton (कपास)
- Kharif crop 🌾.
- Requires high temperature, light rainfall, 210 frost-free days & bright sunshine ☀️.
- Best grown on black cotton soil (Regur soil) of Deccan plateau.
- Major states – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh.
🌾 Jute (Golden Fibre - सुनहरा रेशा)
- Needs high temperature & well-drained fertile soil in flood plains.
- Uses – Gunny bags, mats, ropes, carpets, artefacts.
- Major states – West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Meghalaya.
🐛 Natural Silk (प्राकृतिक रेशम)
- Obtained from cocoons of silkworms 🐛 fed on green leaves.
- Sericulture (रेशम पालन) = Rearing of silkworms.
⚙️ Technological & Institutional Reforms (प्रौद्योगिकीय एवं संस्थागत सुधार)
- Green Revolution (हरित क्रांति) & White Revolution (श्वेत क्रांति).
- Schemes by Govt.:
- Kisan Credit Card (KCC) 💳
- Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) 🛡️
- Support Systems:
- Minimum Support Price (MSP), procurement price to protect farmers.
- Weather bulletins & agricultural programmes on Radio 📻 & TV 📺.
🇮🇳 Contribution of Agriculture (कृषि का योगदान)
- Provides livelihood to 60%+ population.
- In 2010–11, ~52% workforce employed in agriculture 👨🌾.
- Share in GDP is declining 📉.
- Govt. initiatives:
- ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)
- Agricultural universities 🎓
- Veterinary services 🐄
- Horticulture development 🌺
- Meteorology & weather forecast improvements 🌦️
