Land Resources and Agriculture | CBSE Class 12 Geography Notes

This note covers land-use categories, changes in land use, common property resources, agricultural land, cropping intensity, crop seasons, types of farming, major crops and their distribution, agricultural development, and the problems of Indian agriculture.

How is land classified according to its use?

Land use means the purposes for which land is used, including production, residence and recreation. Fields, pastures, roads, buildings and parks represent different uses. Different types of land are suited to different purposes.

The land revenue department maintains land-use records. Their categories add up to the reporting area, the area covered by these records. This changes somewhat with revenue-record estimates. Geographical area is the area measured by the Survey of India and remains fixed according to those measurements.

What are the nine land-use categories?

Fallow means land left uncultivated. Fallowing gives land rest so that natural processes can restore lost fertility. The distinction between current fallow and other fallow therefore depends on the period without cultivation.

Reclamation means improving land so that it can be brought under cultivation. Culturable wasteland is therefore different from barren and wasteland: the latter normally cannot be cultivated using available technology, while the former can return to cultivation after improvement.

Note: An increase in the recorded forest category may occur without any increase in actual forest cover. The category measures land demarcated for forest growth, not simply the land visibly covered by trees.

Why does land use change as the economy develops?

Land is fixed in area, while economic activities change over time. Economic growth, measured through the value of goods and services produced, raises pressure on land as population, incomes and technology change. Land at the margins of existing use consequently comes into use.

The secondary sector, including industrial activities, and the tertiary sector, including services, usually grow much faster than the primary sector, which uses natural resources directly, especially agriculture. Agricultural land gradually shifts to non-agricultural uses. This is particularly visible around large urban areas where building activity expands.

Agriculture's declining economic contribution does not remove pressure on agricultural land. In developing countries, the share of population dependent on agriculture usually declines much more slowly than agriculture's share in gross domestic product (GDP), the value of final goods and services produced within a country over a given period. The population requiring food also continues to grow.

Which categories increased or declined?

The following figures are percentages of reporting area, not percentages of actual forest cover or crop production.

Paired bars compare 1950-51 and 2019-20 for nine categories. The vertical axis measures per cent of reporting area. Net area sown has the tallest bars in both years.

See Fig. 3.1 in your NCERT textbook

Non-agricultural uses show the highest rate of increase because industries, services, infrastructure and settlements expanded. Recorded forest growth reflects increased demarcation. Current fallow fluctuates greatly with rainfall and cropping cycles; two observations cannot explain its increase.

The increase in net area sown followed use of culturable wasteland for agriculture. Earlier, it was slowly declining; there are indications that most of that decline resulted from increasing non-agricultural use. Pressure from agriculture and other activities reduced wastelands, while agricultural pressure reduced tree crops and groves.

Why do land ownership and cropping intensity matter?

What are common property resources?

Common property resources (CPRs) are community natural resources whose members have rights of access and use, specified obligations, and no individual property rights over them. Community forests, pastures, village water bodies and public spaces are examples. Private land belongs to individuals or groups of individuals.

CPRs provide livestock fodder, or animal feed, household fuel, fruits, nuts, fibre and medicinal plants. They are particularly important to landless people, marginal farmers with very small holdings, and other weaker sections. Many depend on livestock income because they have limited access to land.

Most rural fuel and fodder collection is done by women. Degraded CPRs require them to spend long hours collecting these materials. Common resources therefore support livelihoods as well as household needs.

How are cultivable land and cropping intensity measured?

Agriculture is land based, and land quality directly affects yield, or crop output per unit area. Lack of access to land is directly correlated with rural poverty. Land ownership also carries social status and provides security for credit, natural hazards and life's contingencies.

Definition: Total cultivable land is the stock of agricultural land resources obtained by adding net sown area, all fallow lands and culturable wasteland.

The total cultivable stock declined marginally as a share of reporting area. Scope for adding land to net sown area is limited. Land-saving technologies can raise individual crop yields or increase annual output by growing crops more frequently on the same land.

Gross cropped area (GCA) counts the area under all crops during an agricultural year, including repeated cropping of the same land. Net sown area (NSA) counts the physical land area. Cropping intensity (CI) expresses gross cropped area relative to net sown area as a percentage.

CI = (GCA ÷ NSA) × 100. Here = means equals, ÷ means division, × means multiplication, and 100 converts the ratio into a percentage. GCA and NSA must be expressed in the same area unit.

Higher cropping intensity increases output from limited land and significantly increases labour demand. It is desirable in land-scarce, labour-abundant India for fuller land use and reduced rural unemployment.

How do India's cropping seasons differ?

Kharif is the crop season largely coinciding with the southwest monsoon. Rabi is the winter cropping season. Zaid is the short summer cropping season after the rabi harvest. These three distinct seasons occur in northern and interior parts of India.

Monsoon conditions allow tropical crops, suited to hot regions, such as rice, cotton, jute, jowar, bajra and tur to grow in kharif. Rabi begins with winter in October-November and ends in March-April. Its lower temperatures favour temperate crops, suited to cooler regions, and subtropical crops, suited to regions adjoining the tropics, such as wheat, gram and mustard.

Zaid cultivation includes watermelons, cucumbers, vegetables and fodder crops, which provide feed for livestock. These crops are grown on irrigated land, supplied with water, during the short summer season.

This distinction between seasons does not exist in the same way in southern India. Temperatures there are high enough for tropical crops at any time of year, provided soil moisture, meaning water held in the soil, is available. The same crops can therefore be grown thrice in an agricultural year provided sufficient moisture exists.

Note: The rabi season is generally listed as October to March. Cultivation begins in October-November and ends in March-April.

How do irrigated, dryland and wetland farming differ?

The main source of crop moisture distinguishes irrigated farming, which receives supplied water, from rainfed farming, also called barani, which depends on rainfall. Irrigation itself can serve different objectives.

How does protective irrigation differ from productive irrigation?

Protective irrigation protects crops against moisture deficiency. It often supplements rainfall, and the strategy is to provide soil moisture over the maximum possible area. Its purpose is protection from adverse effects of insufficient moisture.

Productive irrigation supplies sufficient moisture during the cropping season to achieve high productivity. Its water input per unit of cultivated land is higher than under protective irrigation.

How does moisture distinguish rainfed farming types?

Dryland farming is largely confined in India to regions receiving less than 75 centimetres of annual rainfall. Hardy, drought-resistant crops include ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar, a fodder crop. Farmers practise soil-moisture conservation and rainwater harvesting, or collecting rainwater for use.

Wetland farming occurs where rainy-season rainfall exceeds plants' soil-moisture requirements. Such regions may face floods and soil erosion, the removal of soil by water or wind. Rice, jute and sugarcane are important water-intensive crops in these areas.

Wetland farming regions also practise aquaculture, the cultivation of aquatic organisms, in freshwater bodies. The distinction concerns moisture availability during the cropping season, so wetland farming should not be treated as simply another name for irrigated farming.

Where are rice and wheat grown, and why do yields vary?

Foodgrains comprise cereals, grains from grasses, and pulses, edible seeds of leguminous plants, distinguished by grain structure. They occupy about two-thirds of India's total cropped area and dominate both farming for household consumption and farming for sale. Cereals occupy about 54 per cent of cropped area.

Humid climates are moist; semi-arid climates are relatively dry; sub-humid climates are less moist than humid climates. Fine grains include rice and wheat; coarse grains include jowar, bajra, maize and ragi. Rice is the staple food of the overwhelming majority of India's population. Although considered a tropical humid crop, its varieties grow across different climatic regions.

How widely is rice cultivated?

Rice grows from sea level to about 2,000 metres altitude, and from humid eastern India to dry but irrigated Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and northern Rajasthan. Southern states and West Bengal can grow two or three rice crops annually.

West Bengal's three rice crops are called aus, aman and boro. Rice is a kharif crop in the Himalayas and northwestern India. About one-fourth of India's cropped area grows rice; West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are leading producers.

The map uses darker shading for major areas and lighter shading for minor areas. Shaded areas extend across northern plains, eastern India and coastal parts of the peninsula.

See Fig. 3.3 in your NCERT textbook

Case study: Why are rice yields high in Punjab and Haryana?

Punjab and Haryana are not traditional rice-growing areas. Irrigated rice cultivation was introduced there in the 1970s following the Green Revolution, the rapid growth in foodgrain production associated with high-yielding seeds, chemical fertilisers, substances supplying plant nutrients, and irrigation. Pesticides control crop pests.

Genetically improved seeds, relatively high fertiliser and pesticide use, and lower susceptibility to pests because of the dry climate explain higher yields in this region. Rice yields are very low in rainfed areas of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

How does wheat cultivation differ?

Wheat, India's second most important cereal after rice, is primarily temperate and grows as a rabi crop. About 85 per cent of its area lies in northern and central India: the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Malwa Plateau and Himalayas up to 2,700 metres.

Wheat is mostly irrigated, but rainfed in Himalayan highlands and parts of the Malwa Plateau. Leading producers include Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Yields exceed 4,000 kilograms per hectare, a unit of land area, in Punjab and Haryana.

Dark and light shading distinguish major and minor areas. The main shaded belt lies in northwestern, northern and central India, with smaller shaded areas extending southwards.

See Fig. 3.4 in your NCERT textbook

What distinguishes coarse cereals and pulses?

Where do jowar, bajra and maize grow?

Jowar, also called sorghum, is a major food crop of semi-arid central and southern India. Maharashtra produces more than half of India's jowar. Other leading producers are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Jowar is sown in both kharif and rabi in southern states. In northern India it is a kharif crop, mostly grown for fodder. South of the Vindhyachal it is rainfed, with very low yields.

Bajra grows under hot, dry conditions in northwestern and western India. It resists frequent dry spells and drought and is grown alone or with other crops. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are leading producers.

Drought-resistant varieties and irrigation expansion have raised bajra yields in Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat. Maize serves as food and fodder, grows in semi-arid climates and inferior soils, and is not concentrated in a specific region.

Leading maize producers include Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Its yield is higher than that of other coarse cereals, being high in southern states and declining towards central India.

Why are pulses important?

Pulses are protein-rich legume crops, belonging to the pea and bean family. Through nitrogen fixation, the process that makes atmospheric nitrogen available for plant nutrition, these crops increase natural soil fertility. Their cultivation is largely concentrated in the dry Deccan and central plateaus and northwestern India.

Pulses occupy about 11 per cent of cropped area. As rainfed dryland crops, they have low yields that fluctuate annually. Gram and tur are the main pulses.

Wheat displaced gram in Haryana, Punjab and northern Rajasthan following the Green Revolution. This illustrates how changes in crop technology can change which crops farmers cultivate.

How are India's major oilseeds distributed?

Oilseeds are crops grown for extracting edible oils. They occupy about 14 per cent of India's cropped area. Important growing regions include the drylands of Malwa, Marathwada, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh and the Karnataka Plateau.

What are the conditions for groundnut, rapeseed and mustard?

Groundnut is largely a rainfed kharif crop of drylands, though southern India also grows it in rabi. Leading producers are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Groundnut yields are comparatively high in Tamil Nadu, where cultivation is partly irrigated. Yields are low in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. India accounted for about 18.8 per cent of world groundnut production in 2018.

Rapeseed and mustard include rai, sarson, toria and taramira. They are subtropical rabi crops of northwestern and central India. They are sensitive to frost, so their yields fluctuate annually. Irrigation and improved seed technology have stabilised yields to some extent.

About two-thirds of the area under rapeseed and mustard is irrigated. Rajasthan contributes about one-third of production; Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are other leading producers. Yields are comparatively high in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Where are soyabean and sunflower grown?

Soyabean is mostly grown in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Together these states produce about 90 per cent of India's soyabean. Sunflower cultivation is concentrated in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and adjoining Maharashtra.

Sunflower is a minor crop in northern India, where irrigation gives it high yields. The contrast between crop concentration and yield matters: an area can have high yields without being a principal area of cultivation.

How do cotton, jute and sugarcane differ?

What are the main fibre crops?

Fibre crops provide material for cloth, bags, sacks and other products. Cotton and jute are India's two main fibre crops. Cotton is a tropical kharif crop of semi-arid areas and requires clear skies during flowering.

India grows short-staple Indian cotton and long-staple American cotton, called narma in northwestern India; staple refers to fibre length. Cotton regions include Punjab, Haryana and northern Rajasthan; Gujarat and Maharashtra; and the plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana are leading producers. Cotton output per hectare is high under irrigation in the northwest, but very low in rainfed Maharashtra. Cotton occupies about 4.7 per cent of total cropped area.

Jute is a cash crop, grown for sale, in West Bengal and adjoining eastern areas. It supplies coarse cloth, bags, sacks and decorative items. West Bengal accounts for about three-fourths of India's production; Bihar and Assam are other growing areas.

Jute occupies only about 0.5 per cent of cropped area. Partition removed large cotton-growing areas to Pakistan and large jute-growing areas to East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

Diagonal lines mark cotton areas in the northwest, west and peninsula. A different cross-hatched pattern marks jute areas in eastern India. The legend separates the two crops.

See Fig. 3.6 in your NCERT textbook

Where does sugarcane grow?

Sugarcane is a tropical crop. Under rainfed conditions it grows in humid and sub-humid climates, but in India it is largely irrigated. Uttar Pradesh is the main concentration in the Indo-Gangetic Plain; Maharashtra and Gujarat form its western growing area.

Southern cultivation occurs in irrigated Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. India was the second-largest producer after Brazil in 2018, accounting for about 19.7 per cent of world production. Sugarcane occupies only 2.4 per cent of India's cropped area.

Uttar Pradesh produces about two-fifths of India's sugarcane. Other leading producers are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where yields are high. Yields are low in northern India.

What conditions and regions favour tea and coffee?

Plantation crops are crops cultivated on estates; tea and coffee provide beverages. Tea grows on undulating hilly terrain with well-drained soils in humid and sub-humid tropical and subtropical regions. It is indigenous to the hills of northern China.

How is tea cultivation distributed?

Indian tea plantations began in the 1840s in Assam's Brahmaputra Valley, which remains a major tea region. Cultivation later spread to Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar in sub-Himalayan West Bengal, and to lower slopes of the Nilgiri and Cardamom hills.

Assam contributes more than half of India's tea production. West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are other leading producers. India accounted for about 21.22 per cent of world tea production in 2018.

How does coffee cultivation differ?

Coffee is a tropical plantation crop whose seeds are roasted and ground to prepare a beverage. Its three varieties are arabica, robusta and liberica. India mostly grows superior-quality arabica, which has strong international demand.

Coffee is grown in Western Ghats highlands in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Karnataka alone contributes more than two-thirds of India's production. India produced only about 3.17 per cent of world coffee and ranked eighth in 2018.

Separate patterns identify the two plantation crops. Tea markings appear in northeastern India and parts of the southern hills; coffee markings are concentrated in the southwestern peninsula.

See Fig. 3.11 in your NCERT textbook

How did agricultural development change after Independence?

Before Independence, agriculture was largely subsistence, meaning production for the cultivator's own consumption. The first half of the twentieth century saw poor performance, droughts and famines. Partition transferred about one-third of undivided India's irrigated land to Pakistan.

What were the early strategies?

The immediate goal after Independence was increased foodgrain production. The Government encouraged a switch from cash crops to food crops, more intensive cropping of cultivated land, and cultivation of cultivable and fallow land.

These measures initially increased foodgrains, but production stagnated in the late 1950s. The Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP) and Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP) were launched to address stagnation. Two consecutive mid-1960s droughts caused a food crisis and foodgrain imports.

Case study: How did the Green Revolution spread unevenly?

High-yielding varieties (HYVs), seed varieties capable of high crop yields, became available by the mid-1960s: wheat from Mexico and rice from the Philippines. India introduced a package combining these seeds and chemical fertilisers in irrigated regions.

1. New seed varieties became available, providing the basis for a different production strategy.
2. Assured irrigation supplied the soil moisture that was a basic prerequisite for success.
3. HYVs and chemical fertilisers were introduced in irrigated Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
4. Foodgrain production increased very rapidly, producing the agricultural growth called the Green Revolution.
5. Initial confinement to irrigated areas created regional disparities until the 1970s; technology subsequently spread to eastern and central India.

The strategy made India self-reliant in foodgrain production and stimulated industries supplying agricultural inputs and processing agricultural products, along with small-scale industries. Expanding irrigation also supported pesticides and farm machinery. HYVs are highly susceptible to pests and diseases, increasing pesticide use.

How did later priorities broaden?

In the 1980s, attention turned to rainfed agriculture. Agro-climatic planning, planning agricultural development around regional climatic conditions, began in 1988 to promote regional balance. Diversification included dairy farming, poultry, horticulture or garden-crop cultivation, livestock rearing and aquaculture.

The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) seeks productive farming that conserves resources, gives financial returns and is climate-resilient, meaning farming that remains viable under climatic stresses. It promotes location-specific farming systems and soil and moisture conservation. The Farmer's Portal provides agricultural information, including crops, seeds, storage, insurance and schemes.

What are the major problems of Indian agriculture?

Most agricultural problems are region specific, reflecting different ecological conditions and histories. Some problems nevertheless recur across regions, including unreliable moisture, low productivity, financial constraints and difficulties arising from land ownership and farm organisation.

How do rainfall and low productivity constrain farming?

Erratic monsoon rainfall makes crop production uncertain. Poor southwest monsoon performance also affects canal-water supplies. Rajasthan and other drought-prone regions have meagre, highly unreliable rainfall; even high-rainfall regions experience fluctuations that make them vulnerable to droughts and floods.

Low-rainfall areas can also experience occasional floods. Flash floods in the drylands of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan in 2006 and 2017 illustrate this. Drought and flood remain twin agricultural problems.

Yields of most crops such as rice, wheat, cotton and oilseeds are much lower than in the United States of America, Russia and Japan. Pressure on land also keeps labour productivity, output relative to labour, very low. Rainfed drylands growing coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds have low yields.

Why do credit, land reforms and farm size matter?

Modern agricultural inputs are expensive. Small and marginal farmers have very meagre or no savings for investment. Most of these farmers borrow from institutions and moneylenders; crop failures and low returns have forced them into indebtedness, the burden of unpaid debt.

Land reforms, measures addressing unequal land distribution and landholding arrangements, received priority after Independence but were not effectively implemented because strong political will was lacking. Most state governments avoided decisions opposed by powerful landlord groups. Unequal distribution of cultivable land consequently continued.

Population pressure shrinks average holdings. Fragmentation divides holdings into separate pieces, and division among successive generations fragments them again. Some states have not consolidated holdings even once; others need a second consolidation, or regrouping of fragmented holdings. Small, fragmented holdings are uneconomic.

Many farmers have insufficient land to produce beyond family requirements. Most small and marginal farmers grow foodgrains for their own consumption. Commercialisation, production for sale, and modernisation have, however, occurred in irrigated areas.

Underemployment means people lack sufficient work despite being engaged in agriculture. In unirrigated tracts, seasonal unemployment ranges from 4 to 8 months. Work is not continuously available even during the cropping season, preventing year-round employment.

How does agricultural land become degraded?

Land degradation reduces the productive condition of land and may deplete soil fertility. Faulty irrigation and agricultural development have caused alkalisation, increased soil alkalinity; salinisation, accumulation of salts; and waterlogging, excessive saturation with water. These have reduced fertility over large irrigated tracts.

Excessive insecticides and pesticides have accumulated in toxic amounts in soil. Leguminous crops have been displaced in irrigated areas, while multiple cropping, growing crops repeatedly on the same land, has shortened fallow periods. Natural fertilisation processes such as nitrogen fixation have consequently been obliterated.

Rainfed humid and semi-arid regions also experience water and wind erosion, often induced by human activities. Degradation therefore affects both irrigated and rainfed agriculture, though its forms differ.

Glossary

• Reporting area — Area covered by land-use records, whose estimates may change somewhat over time.
• Net sown area — Physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested.
• Gross cropped area — Total area under crops during an agricultural year, counting repeated cultivation of the same land.
• Cropping intensity — Gross cropped area divided by net sown area, expressed as a percentage.
• Culturable wasteland — Land uncultivated for more than five years that can be cultivated after reclamation.
• Current fallow — Land left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year.
• Common property resources — Community natural resources with shared access and use rights, specified obligations and no individual property rights.
• Kharif — Crop season largely coinciding with the southwest monsoon in northern and interior India.
• Rabi — Winter cropping season whose lower temperatures favour crops such as wheat, gram and mustard.
• Zaid — Short summer cropping season after rabi harvesting, supporting irrigated vegetables, fruits and fodder.
• Protective irrigation — Irrigation protecting crops against moisture deficiency, often supplementing rainfall across the maximum possible area.
• Productive irrigation — Irrigation supplying sufficient crop-season moisture for high productivity, with greater water input per unit area.
• Dryland farming — Rainfed farming largely confined in India to regions receiving less than 75 centimetres of annual rainfall.
• Wetland farming — Rainfed farming where rainy-season rainfall exceeds the soil-moisture requirements of plants.
• Green Revolution — Rapid growth of foodgrain production following the introduction of high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and assured irrigation.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Recorded forest area measures actual tree cover. Correct: It measures land demarcated for forest growth and may increase without increased actual forest cover.
• Misconception: Barren land and culturable wasteland are identical. Correct: Barren land normally cannot be cultivated with available technology; culturable wasteland can be cultivated after reclamation.
• Misconception: Net sown area counts the same land again for each crop. Correct: Net sown area measures physical land; gross cropped area includes repeated cropping.
• Misconception: Two observations fully explain changes in current fallow. Correct: Current fallow fluctuates greatly with rainfall variability and cropping cycles, so two points are insufficient.
• Misconception: Dryland farming regions cannot experience floods. Correct: Low-rainfall areas may experience occasional floods as well as droughts.
• Misconception: India's cropping seasons are equally distinct everywhere. Correct: Southern temperatures permit tropical crops throughout the year, provided sufficient soil moisture is available.
• Misconception: The Green Revolution spread evenly from its beginning. Correct: Initial concentration in irrigated regions created disparities before technology spread eastwards and into central India.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Barren land normally cannot be cultivated using available technology, while culturable wasteland has remained uncultivated for more than five years and can be reclaimed. Distinguish them in two points. [2 marks]

1. Barren land normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the technology available.
2. Culturable wasteland has been uncultivated for more than five years but can be cultivated after reclamation.

Q2. In 2019-20, net sown area was 45.6, current fallow 4.5, other fallow 3.7 and culturable wasteland 3.9, all as percentages of reporting area. Total cultivable land includes these four categories. State the method and calculate its share. [2 marks]

1. Add net sown area, both fallow categories and culturable wasteland, keeping the common reporting-area denominator.
2. The total is 45.6 + 4.5 + 3.7 + 3.9 = 57.7 per cent of reporting area.

Q3. Economic growth raises land demand; industry and services usually grow faster than agriculture, shifting land to buildings especially near large cities; agricultural dependence usually declines more slowly than agriculture's economic share while food demand grows. Explain three resulting pressures on land. [3 marks]

1. Growth in the value of goods and services increases demand for a fixed land resource, bringing land at the margins of existing use into use.
2. Faster industrial and service growth gradually shifts agricultural land towards buildings, settlements and infrastructure, particularly around large urban areas.
3. Pressure on farmland persists because agricultural dependence declines relatively slowly while the number of people requiring food continues to increase.

Q4. Protective irrigation often supplements rainfall and spreads moisture across the maximum possible area. Productive irrigation supplies sufficient crop-season moisture for high productivity, using more water per unit area. Compare them on purpose, supply and water input. [3 marks]

1. Protective irrigation aims to shield crops from moisture deficiency; productive irrigation aims to secure high productivity through sufficient moisture during the growing season.
2. Protective irrigation often supplements rainfall and distributes moisture over the maximum possible area; productive irrigation concentrates on meeting crop-season moisture needs.
3. Water input per unit of cultivated land is higher under productive irrigation than under protective irrigation.

Q5. Punjab and Haryana were not traditional rice-growing areas. Irrigated rice reached Punjab and Haryana in the 1970s following the Green Revolution. Improved seeds, relatively high fertiliser and pesticide use, and lower pest susceptibility under dry conditions supported high yields. Explain the introduction and three reasons for high yields. [4 marks]

1. Punjab and Haryana were not traditional rice-growing areas; rice cultivation was introduced into their irrigated areas in the 1970s following the Green Revolution.
2. Genetically improved seed varieties contributed to higher rice yields in this region.
3. Relatively high use of fertilisers and pesticides supported the higher-yielding production system.
4. The dry climatic conditions reduced the crop's susceptibility to pests, helping explain high yields despite the region's departure from traditional humid rice-growing conditions.

Q6. By the mid-1960s, high-yielding wheat from Mexico and rice from the Philippines were available. India combined these seeds with fertilisers and assured irrigation. Foodgrains rose rapidly, supporting self-reliance, agricultural-input industries and agricultural-processing industries. Initial regional disparities lasted until technology spread eastwards and centrally after the 1970s. Explain five features of this development. [5 marks]

1. High-yielding wheat and rice varieties became available by the mid-1960s. Wheat varieties came from Mexico and rice varieties from the Philippines, providing the seed basis for change.
2. The production strategy combined the new seeds with chemical fertilisers, forming a package of agricultural technology rather than relying on seeds alone.
3. Assured soil moisture through irrigation was a basic prerequisite for successful use of this package, explaining its initial concentration in irrigated areas.
4. Foodgrain production rose very rapidly, producing the Green Revolution and supporting foodgrain self-reliance as well as industries supplying and processing agricultural products.
5. The initial regional concentration created disparities until the 1970s. Subsequent spread into eastern and central India broadened the geographical reach of the technology.

Q7. Faulty irrigation causes alkalisation (increased alkalinity), salinisation (salt accumulation) and waterlogging (excessive water saturation), reducing fertility; excessive pesticides accumulate in soils; legume displacement and shorter fallows obliterate natural fertilisation; water and wind erode rainfed land, often through human influence. Explain five forms or causes of degradation from these facts. [5 marks]

1. Alkalisation and salinisation increase soil alkalinity and salt accumulation respectively. They have caused large tracts of agricultural land in irrigated areas to lose fertility.
2. Waterlogging leaves land excessively saturated with water. It is another serious form of degradation associated with faulty irrigation and reduced soil fertility.
3. Excessive chemical use allows insecticides and pesticides to accumulate in toxic amounts within the soil, adding a further form of damage to cultivated land.
4. Displacement of leguminous crops and shorter fallows under multiple cropping obliterate natural fertilisation processes, including nitrogen fixation, removing these means of natural fertility renewal.
5. Rainfed areas in humid and semi-arid regions experience erosion by water and wind. These forms of degradation are often induced by human activities.

Q8. Small farmers have meagre or no savings; modern inputs are expensive; crop failure and low returns increase debt; weak land-reform implementation preserves unequal distribution; holdings shrink and fragment through division among generations; many farmers cannot produce beyond household needs. Explain five connected agricultural problems. [5 marks]

1. Expensive modern inputs create financial constraints because small and marginal farmers have very meagre or no savings available for agricultural investment.
2. Borrowing can lead to indebtedness when crop failures and low agricultural returns prevent farmers from overcoming their financial difficulties through crop production.
3. Ineffective implementation of land reforms allows unequal distribution of cultivable land to continue, maintaining an institutional obstacle to agricultural development.
4. Shrinking and fragmented holdings create uneconomic farms. Repeated division of holdings among generations makes the problem of scattered, small pieces persist.
5. Insufficient land prevents many farmers from producing more than household requirements, restricting commercialisation and keeping production directed towards their own family's food needs.

Key takeaways

• Land-use records distinguish nine categories, and their reporting area differs from the geographical area measured by the Survey of India.
• Growing industries, services and settlements increase non-agricultural land use, while food demand and agricultural dependence maintain pressure on farmland.
• Common property resources support livestock, household needs and vulnerable rural livelihoods, with particular importance for women collecting fuel and fodder.
• Total cultivable land includes net sown area, all fallows and culturable wasteland; cropping intensity compares gross cropped area with net sown area.
• Crop seasons and farming systems reflect temperature, rainfall and soil moisture, with southern India allowing repeated tropical cropping where moisture permits.
• Crop distribution and yields depend on growing conditions and irrigation; high production concentration and high yield are different geographical characteristics.
• The Green Revolution combined high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and assured irrigation, raising foodgrain output while initially creating regional disparities.
• Unreliable rainfall, low productivity, debt, unequal land distribution, fragmented holdings, underemployment and land degradation constrain Indian agriculture.

Test yourself

Why can recorded forest area increase without more actual forest cover?

The category records government-demarcated land for forest growth. Enlarging that demarcated area does not necessarily increase actual tree cover.

Which land categories together form total cultivable land?

Add net sown area, current fallow, fallow other than current fallow, and culturable wasteland to estimate total cultivable land.

Why does higher cropping intensity suit India's land and labour conditions?

It increases annual output from limited land and significantly raises labour demand, supporting fuller land use and reducing rural unemployment.

Why may three crops be grown annually in southern India?

Temperatures permit tropical crop growth throughout the year, provided enough soil moisture is available for the repeated cultivation.

What are aus, aman and boro?

They are the three rice crops grown by farmers in West Bengal during an agricultural year.

How does productive irrigation differ in water input from protective irrigation?

Productive irrigation uses more water per unit of cultivated land to provide sufficient moisture for high productivity.

Why do common property resources matter particularly to landless households?

They provide livestock fodder and household fuel. Many landless households depend on livestock income because their access to land is limited.

Why did the early Green Revolution produce regional disparities?

Its technology initially required assured irrigation and was confined to irrigated areas, before spreading into eastern and central India.