NCERT Class 12 Geography Chapter 5: Land Use & Agriculture- Irrigation, Cereals, Pulses YouTube Lecture Handouts Part 2

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NCERT Class 12 Geography Chapter 5: Land Use & Agriculture- Irrigation, Cereals, Pulses|CBSE|English

Types of Farming

Illustration: Types of Farming
  • There is difference in the nature of irrigated farming as well based on objective of irrigation, i.e.. , protective or productive. The objective of protective irrigation is to protect the crops from adverse effects of soil moisture deficiency which often means that irrigation acts as a supplementary source of water over and above the rainfall. The strategy of this kind of irrigation is to provide soil moisture to maximum possible area. Productive irrigation is meant to provide sufficient soil moisture in the cropping season to achieve high productivity. In such irrigation the water input per unit area of cultivated land is higher than protective irrigation.
  • Rainfed farming is further classified on the basis of adequacy of soil moisture during cropping season into dryland and wetland farming. In India, the dryland farming is largely confined to the regions having annual rainfall less than 75 cm. These regions grow hardy and drought resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar (fodder crops) and practise various measures of soil moisture conservation and rain water harvesting. In wetland farming, the rainfall is in excess of soil moisture requirement of plants during rainy season. Such regions may face flood and soil erosion hazards. These areas grow various water intensive crops such as rice, jute and sugarcane and practise aquaculture in the fresh water bodies

Types of Food Grains

Illustration: Types of Food Grains

The cereals occupy about 54 per cent of total cropped area in India. The country produces about 11 per cent cereals of the world and ranks third in production after China and U. S. A. India produces a variety of cereals, which are classified as fine grains (rice, wheat) and coarse grains (jowar, bajra, maize, ragi) , etc.

Bajra

  • Hot & Dry
  • NW & W India
  • Hardy Crop
  • Resistant to Drought
  • 5.2% land area
  • Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana

Maize

  • Food & fodder crop
  • Semi-arid area & inferior soil
  • 3.6% total cropped area
  • Across India except East & NE
  • Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – Main Producers
  • Higher yield than other crops
  • Higher yield in South India

Jowar

  • South – Rainfed crop with low yield
  • Semi-arid area in Central & South India
  • 5.3% total cropped area
  • Kharif in North – as fodder
  • Maharashtra – Main Producers
  • Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh
  • Both Rabi & Kharif Crop

Wheat

  • 2nd most important cereal after rice
  • 14% total area – temperate crop
  • Rabi crop – mainly irrigated
  • 85% in north and central India
  • Indo-Gangetic Plain, Malwa Plateau and Himalayas up to 2,700 m altitude
  • Rainfed crop in Himalayan highlands and parts of Malwa plateau in MP
  • 12% of total wheat production of world

Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are five leading wheat producing states. The yield level of wheat is very high (above 4,000 k. g. per ha) in Punjab and Haryana whereas, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar have moderate yields. The states like Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir growing wheat under rainfed conditions have low yield

Rice

  • Staple crop – 3000 varieties
  • Grown from sea level to 2000 m altitude
  • 3 crops in West Bengal - β€˜aus’ , β€˜aman’ and β€˜boro’ .
  • Himalayas and NW India as a kharif crop during SW Monsoon season
  • 22% rice production of world; 2nd after China
  • th of total cropped area is rice
  • West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are major states
  • In southern states and West Bengal, the climatic conditions allow the cultivation of two or three crops of rice in an agricultural year.
  • In the first four of these states almost the entire land under rice cultivation is irrigated. Punjab and Haryana are not traditional rice growing areas. Rice cultivation in the irrigated areas of Punjab and Haryana was introduced in 1970s following the Green Revolution.
  • Genetically improved varieties of seed, relatively high usage of fertilisers and pesticides and lower levels of susceptibility of the crop to pests due to dry climatic conditions are responsible for higher yield of rice in this region. The yield of this crop is very low in rainfed areas of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

✍ Manishika