CLASS 10TH CHAPTER AGRICULTURE (SOCIAL

SCIENCE)
India is an agriculturally important country. Two-thirds of its
population is engaged in agriculture activities.
Majorly in this chapter you will study about farming cropping
patterns and types of crop grown in India.

TYPES OF FARMING:
1. PRIMITIVE SUBSISTENCE FARMING(TRADITIONAL BUT IN SMALL
AREAS)
This type of farming is still practiced in few
Places of India.
Primitive subsistence agriculture is practiced on small
patches of land with the help of primitive tools like hoe, Dao
and digging stick and family community labor.
It is totally dependent upon nature and natural fertility of soil.
Example: slash and burn technique also known as shifting
cultivation
This method involves clearing land by destroying and burning
all trees and plants on it.
Then they farm there for some time and then move to next
patch of land
2. INTENSIVE SUBSISTENCE FARMING(TRADITIONAL BUT IN
LARGE AREAS)
 This type of farming is practiced in areas of high population
pressure on land.
It is labor intensive farming, where high doses of biochemical
inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production
Problem of inheritance leading to division of land among
successive generations which decreases the size of plot and
the size gets smaller and smaller.
Therefore large scale production is not possible here.
3. COMMERCIAL FARMING (MODERN)
The main characteristic of this farming is the use of modern
inputs e.g. high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical
fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides to obtain higher
productivity.
The degree of commercialization of agriculture varies from
one region to another. For example, rice is a commercial crop
and wheat too.
PLANTATION is a process of growing single crop on large area
It require large capital and many workers
It requires a well-developed network of transport industries
farmers market etc.
Example tea (Assam and north Bengal) sugar coffee
(Karnataka) etc.
Cropping pattern
 Cropping pattern means various types of crops grown in India
in different seasons.
India has mainly three types of cropping pattern based on
seasons
1. Rabi crop:
Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and
harvested in summer from April to June.
Some of the important rabbi crops are wheat, barley, peas,
gram and mustard.
These crops are grown in large parts of Indian states from the
north and north-western example Punjab Haryana Uttar
Pradesh etc.
The success of these crops is mainly due to western cyclones
in winter month.
Green revolution is also a important reason of success of
these crops in north and north western states.
2. Kharif crops:
Kharif crops are grown with the coming of Monsoon(may
to july) in different parts of the country and these are
harvested in September-October.
Important crops grown during this season are paddy, maize,
jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and
soyabean.
Some of the most important rice growing regions are Assam, West
Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan
coast)along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and
Haryana.
In assam west Bengal Odisha three crops of paddy are grown
example aus, aman, boro
3. Zaid crop:
Sowing period of these crops are march to june.
The crops are watermelom, cucumber, vegetables etc.
Sugarcanes take almost a year to grow
Major crops
1.Rice:
India is second largest country to grow rice.
It is staple food for many people of india.
It is kharif crop requiring high temperature(25C) and high
humidity with annual rainfall 100cm.
In areas of less rainfall it grows with help of irrigation.
Rice is grown in the plains of north and north-eastern India,
coastal areas and the deltaic regions.
Development of dense network and Development of dense
network of canal irrigation and tubewells have made it
possible to grow rice in areas of less rainfall such as Punjab
Haryana etc.
2.Wheat:
This is the second most important cereal crop. It is the
main food crop, in north and north-western part of the
country.
This is a rabi crop.
It requires a cool growing season and a bright sunshine at
the time of ripening.
It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall over the
growing season.
There are two important wheat-growing zones the
Ganga-Satluj plains in the north-west and black soil
region of the Deccan.
The major wheat growing states are Punjab Haryana UP
MP etc.
3.Maize:
It is a crop which is used both as food and fodder.
It is a kharif crop.
It requires temperature between 21°C to 27°C and grows
well in old alluvial soil.
In Bihar maize is grown in rabi season also
High growth is due to modern inputs such as HYV
seeds, fertilisers and irrigation.
Major maize-producing states are Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana.
4.Millets:
Jowar, bajra and ragi are the important millets grown in
India.
These are known as coarse grains because they have very
high nutritional value.
For example,
Ragi is very rich in iron, calcium, other micro nutrients and
roughage.
It is grown in dry regions and grows well on red, black,
sandy, loamy and shallow black soils.
Major ragi producing states are: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and
Arunachal Pradesh
Jowar is the third most important food crop with respect to
area and production.
It is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in the moist areas which
hardly needs irrigation.
Major Jowar producing States are Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh etc.
Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil.
Major Bajra producing States are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.
5.Pulses
India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of
pulses in the world.
They are the major source of protein in a vegetarian
diet.
Major pulses that are grown in India are tur (arhar), urad,
moong, masur, peas and gram.
They need less moisture and survive even in dry
conditions.
 They are leguminous crops because they help in fixing
nitrogen from the air (except arhar).
Major pulse producing states in India are Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.

Food crops other than grains:

1. 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 75cm. and 100cm.
Irrigation is required in the regions of low rainfall.
It grows on variety of soils and need manual labour from sowing
to harvesting.
India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only after
Brazil.
It is the main source of sugar, gur (jaggary), khandsari and
molasses.
The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.
2.Oil seeds
India was the second largest producer of groundnut in the
world after China.(2020)
 They are grown covering approximately 12 per cent of the
total cropped area of the country.
Main oil-seeds produced in India are groundnut, mustard,
coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, castor seeds, cotton seeds,
linseed and sunflower.
Most of these are edible and used as cooking material.
Some are used in cosmetics and other things.
Example: Groundnut is a kharif crop and is about half of the
major oilseeds produced in the country.
Gujarat was the largest producer of groundnut also Rajasthan
and Tamil Nadu in 2019–20.
Linseed and mustard are rabi crops.
Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south India.
Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop.
3.Tea:
Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture.
It is also an important beverage crop found in India by British.
Most of the tea plantations are of Indians.
The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates
with deep and fertile soil rich in humus.
Tea bushes require warm and moist frost free climate all
through the year. Rain distributed over the year for continuous
growth of leaves.
Tea is a labour-intensive industry.
It requires abundant, cheap and skilled labour.
Tea is processed within the tea garden to have its freshness.
Major tea producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and
Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh
and Tripura are also tea-producing states in the country.
In 2020 India was the second largest producer of tea after
china.
4.Coffee:
Indian coffee is known in the world for its good quality.
The Arabica variety brought from Yemen is produced in India.
This variety is in great demand all over the world.
Its cultivation was introduced on the Baba Budan Hills and even
today its cultivation is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka,
Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
5.Horticulture Crops:
India was the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables
in the world after China.
India is a producer of tropical as well as temperate fruits.
Mangoes of Maharashtra, AP, Telangana, UP and West Bengal,
oranges of Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya), bananas of
Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, lichi and guava
of UP and Bihar, pineapples of Meghalaya, grapes of AP,
Telangana and Maharashtra, apples, pears, apricots and
walnuts of Jammu and Kashmir and HP are in great demand.
India is an important producer of pea, cauliflower, onion,
cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato.

Non-Food Crops
Silk is obtained from cocoons of the silkworms fed on green
leaves specially mulberry.
Rearing of silk worms for the production of silk fibre is known
as sericulture

1.Rubber:
It is an equatorial crop 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.
Rubber is an important industrial raw material.
It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and
Andaman and Nicobar islands and Garo hills of Meghalaya
2.Cotton:
It is a fibre crop.
India is the original home of the cotton plant.
Cotton is one of the main raw materials for cotton textile
industry.
India is second largest producer of cotton after China.
Cotton 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.
It is a kharif crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature.
Major cotton-producing states are Maharashtra, Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil
Nadu, Punjab, Haryana.
3.Jute:
It is known as the golden fibre.
It grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood plains
where soils are restored every year.
High temperature is required during the time of growth.
West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya are the
major jute producing states.
It is used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, yarn, carpets and
other artefacts.

Technological and Institutional Reforms:

Now technology and many instruments are required to do
agriculture.
But still many farmer depend on monsson and soil fertility for
growth of plants.
This technology is needed in order to keep fulfill the population
of country.

Institutional reforms:
The collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, cooperation and
abolition of zamindari, etc. were given priority for institutional
reforms in the country after Independence.
‘Land reform’ was the main focus of our First Five Year Plan.
The green and white revolution was started to improve lot of
agriculture practices.
Crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.
Establishment of Grameen banks, cooperative societies and
banks for providing loan facilities to the farmers at lower rates
of interest.
Kisan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance Scheme
(PAIS) are some other schemes introduced by the Government
of India.
Special weather boards and agricultural programmes for
farmers were introduced on the radio and television.
The government also announced minimum support price for
important crops to check the exploitation done with farmers by
middlemen.

Bhoodan Gramdan Movement:

Also known as Blood-less revolution.
It was started by Vinoba Bhave.
He was votaries of mahatma gandhi’s gram swarajya.
He also undertook a padyatra to spread gandhi’s message.
In Pochampalli (Andhra Pradesh) he found some villagers
demanding for land for their economic well being.
Then Shri Ram Chandra Reddy offered 80 acres of land to 80
land-less villagers.
This act was known as ‘Bhoodan’.
Then he travelled and introduced his ideas all over India.
Some zamindars also offered to distribute their own villages
among the landless.
It was known as ‘Gramdan’.