TYPES OF FARMING:
1. Primitive Subsistence Agriculture:
(a) This type of farming is practiced on small patches of land.
(b) Primitive tools like: Hoe, Dao, Digging Sticks and family/community labour are used.
(c) Farming mainly depends on monsoon and natural fertility of soil.
(d) Crops are grown as per the suitability of the environmental condition.
e) This type of farming is also called 'slash and burn' agriculture.
(f) A patch of land is cleared by slashing the trees and burning them. The ash is then mixed with the soil and the crops. When the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot.
(g) The final output of this farming technique is just enough for the family.
(h) Slash and burn agriculture is also known as Shifting cultivation.
(i) Slash and burn agriculture is known by different names in the world:
SLASH AND BURN AGRICULTURE
2. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture:
(a) This type of farming is practiced in thickly populated areas.
(b) In intensive subsistence agriculture the farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour.
(c) There is huge population pressure on this type of farming.
(d) It is labour intensive.
(e) This involves high degree of use of biochemical inputs and irrigation.
Problems of Intensive Farming: Right of Inheritance
(a) Division of land through successive generation leads to plot size getting smaller and uneconomical.
(b) The farmers continue to take maximum output from the limited land in the absence of alternative source of livelihood.
(c) There is huge pressure on the agricultural land.
2. COMMERCIAL FARMING
(a) In commercial farming crops are grown and animals are reared for sale in market
(b) The area cultivated is very large.
(c) It is capital intensive.
(d) Most of the work is done by machines.
(e) Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides are used.
(f) High yielding variety (HYV) seeds are used in order to get maximum output.
(g) In the states like Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra commercial farming is done on a large scale.
(h) Rice is a commercial crop in Punjab and Haryana but in Odisha, it is a subsistence crop.
Plantation:
(a) In this type of farming, a single crop is grown on a large area.
(b) More capital and a large number of workers are required.
(c) Final output of the plantation is used in various industries. For e.g. tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana, etc.
(d) Plantation requires a well developed network of transportation, communication, processing industries and a good market.
CROPPING PATTERN
India has three cropping seasons, i.e. Rabi, Kharif and Zaid.
(a) Rabi:
(i) Crops are sown in winters between October to December and harvested between April to June.
(ii) Some of the major crops of this season are: wheat, barley, peas, gram, and oilseeds.
(iii) Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are the important producers of rabi crops.
(b) Kharif:
(i) Crops are sown at the beginning of monsoon and harvested after rain i.e. between September to October.
(ii) Kharif crops are also known as summer crops.
(iii) Some of the major crops of this season are: rice, maize, jowar, bajra, jute.
(iv) Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are important rice growing states.
(v) In Assam, West Bengal and Orissa; three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are called Aus, Aman and Boro.
c) Zaid:
(i) In between Rabi and Kharif crops zaid crops.
(ii) Some of the major crops of this season are: watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.
(iii) Sugarcane is planted in this season but takes almost a year to grow.
R. Bajra
K. Ragi M. Jowar
Leguminous crops
TEA
JUTE