India is an agriculturally important country. Two-thirds of its population is engaged in agricultural activities. Agriculture is a primary activity, which produces most of the food that we consume. Besides food grains, it also produces raw materials for various industries. In this article Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes – Agriculture we will provide you with the important note based on the latest NCERT book of Cases 10 and the CBSE syllabus.
Table of Contents
Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes – Agriculture
India is an agricultural country
- Two-thirds of its population is engaged in agricultural activities.
- Agriculture is a primary activity and produces most of the food and food grains.
- It produces raw materials for our various industries, e.g., cotton textile, sugar industry.
- Agricultural products, like tea, coffee, and spices are exported and earn foreign exchange.
Types Of Farming
👉Primitive Subsistence Farming in India
- Practiced in isolated regions of India.
- Characteristics:
- Small land patches.
- Use of basic tools.
- Family or community labor.
- Method:
- Farmers clear land for growing cereals and food crops for family use.
- When soil fertility decreases, they shift to a new land patch.
- Abandoned land regains fertility naturally.
- Productivity:
- Low, due to lack of fertilizers and modern inputs.
👉Intensive Subsistence Farming:
- Practiced in areas with high population pressure on land.
- Labor-intensive farming method.
- High yield per hectare due to:
- High doses of biochemical inputs.
- Extensive use of irrigation.
- Small, uneconomical land holdings.
- Farmers maximize output by:
- Raising 2-3 crops annually from the same land (multiple cropping).
👉Commercial Agriculture:
- Crops are grown mainly for commercial purposes.
- Practiced on large pieces of land with scientific and commercial approaches.
- Use of machines and modern technology.
- High use of modern agricultural inputs:
- HYV seeds.
- Fertilizers.
- Irrigation.
- The degree of commercialization varies by region:
- Example: Rice is a commercial crop in Punjab.
- Example: Rice is a subsistence crop in Odisha.
Characteristics of Plantation Agriculture:
- A single type of crop is grown in large areas.
- Large estates with significant capital investment.
- Labor-intensive, relying on migrant workers.
- The interface between agriculture and industry.
- Produce is used as raw material in industries.
- Production is mainly for commercial purposes.
Rabi, Kharif, and Zaid cropping seasons:
| Cropping Season | Sowing Period | Harvesting Period | Important Crops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rabi (Winter) | October to December | April to June | Wheat, barley, mustard, peas, gram, etc. |
| Kharif (Rainy) | Onset of monsoon (June-July) | September to October | The onset of monsoon (June-July) |
| Zaid | March to April | June to July | Watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, etc. |
Major Crops in India
A variety of food and non-food crops are grown in different parts of India, depending upon the variations in soil, climate, and cultivation practices. Major crops grown in India are:
- Rice
- Wheat
- Millets
- Pulses
- Tea
- Coffee
- Sugarcane
- oil seeds
- Cotton
- Jute
🌟Rice
- It is a Kharif crop.
- It requires high temperature and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm.
- India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.
- It is grown in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas, and the deltaic regions.
🌟Wheat
- This is a Rabi crop.
- It requires a cool growing season and bright sunshine at the time of ripening.
- It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributed over the growing season.
- The Ganga-Satluj plains in the northwest and the black soil region of the Deccan are the two main wheat-growing zones in India.
- It is the second most important cereal crop and main food crop in the north and north-western parts of India.
🌟Millets
- Jowar, Bajra, and Ragi are the important millets grown in India.
- These are known as coarse grains and have very high nutritional value.
| Jowar | Bajra | Ragi |
| Grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy, and shallow black soils. | Grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil. | It is a crop of dry regions. |
| It is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in moist areas. | Grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils. | |
| Mainly produced in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. | Major producing states are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana. | Major producing states are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh. |
🌟Maize
- It is a Kharif crop.
- It requires a temperature between 21°C to 27°C and grows well in old alluvial soil.
- It is used both as food and fodder.
- Major maize-producing states are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
🌟Pulses
- India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world.
- Pulses are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.
- Major pulses grown in India are Tur (Arhar), Urad, Moong, Masur, Peas, and Gram.
- Pulses are mostly grown in rotation with other crops so that the soil restores fertility.
- Major pulse-producing states are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
🌟Sugarcane
- It is a tropical as well as a subtropical crop.
- It grows well in hot and humid climates with a temperature of 21°C to 27°C and annual rainfall between 75cm to 100cm.
- It can be grown on a variety of soils.
- Needs manual labor from sowing to harvesting.
- India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only after Brazil.
- Sugarcane is the main source of Sugar, Gur (Jaggery), Khansari, and molasses.
- The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
🌟Oil Seeds
Different oil seeds are grown, covering approximately 12% of the total cropped area of India. The main oil seeds produced in India are:
- Groundnut: is a Kharif crop and accounts for half of the major oilseeds produced in India. Gujarat is the largest producer of groundnuts.
- Mustard: is a rabi crop.
- Sesamum (til): is a Kharif crop in the north and a rabi crop in south India.
- Castor seeds: It is grown as both Rabi and Kharif crops.
- Linseed: is a rabi crop.
- Coconut
- Soyabean
- Cotton seeds
- Sunflower
🌟Tea
- It is also an important beverage crop introduced by the British in India.
- The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates with deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter.
- Tea bushes require a warm and moist frost-free climate all through the year.
- Tea is a labor-intensive industry.
- Major tea-producing states are Assam, the hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.
🌟Coffee
Yemen coffee is produced in India, and this variety of coffee is in great demand all over the world. Its cultivation was introduced on the Baba Budan Hills and is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
🌟Cotton is mainly produced in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Cotton is the fiber crop that is mainly grown in the black soil of the Deccan Plateau region.
- Position. India is the 3rd largest producer of cotton in the world.
- Geographical conditions. Requires—high temperature; light rainfall or irrigation; 210 frost-free days; bright sunshine; black cotton soil; Kharif crop and requires 6-8 months to mature.
- Major cotton-producing states—Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
🌟Jute: Mainly grown in West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam, known as golden fiber. Jute is mainly grown in West Bengal, especially in the Hoogly Basin because the geographical conditions favor its growth. These conditions are—
- High temperature is required during the time of growth,
- Jute grows well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood plains where soils are renewed every year.
Jute products are—gunny bags, ropes, mats, carpets, yams, and other ornamental artifacts.
🌟Rubber is produced in Kerala, Tamil Nadu Karnataka, Andaman, and Nicobar Islands, and the Garo hills of Meghalaya. Conditions: It requires a hot and humid climate. Rainfall—200 cms. Temperature— above 25° C. Maximum rubber is consumed in the manufacture of auto tires and tubes and cycle tires and tubes.
Institutional reforms in Agriculture:
- Collectivization and consolidation of land holdings to make them economically viable.
- The Green Revolution was based on the use of package technology and the White Revolution to increase milk production.
- Cooperation with farmers and the Abolition of the Zamindari system.
- Provision of crop insurance to protect the farmers against losses caused by natural calamities, i.e., drought, flood, cyclone, fire, and disease.
- Establishment of ‘Grameen Banks’, Cooperative Societies and Banks.
- Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS).
- Special weather bulletins and agricultural programs for farmers on radio and TV.
- Announcement of minimum support price, remunerative and procurement prices for crops to check the exploitation of farmers.
Contribution of Agriculture to the National Economy, Employment and Output
- In 2010-11, the farm sector employed about 52% of the total workforce.
- The share of agriculture in the GDP is declining.
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), agricultural universities, veterinary services and animal breeding centers, horticulture development, research and development in meteorology and weather forecast, etc. are a few of the initiatives introduced by the government to improve Indian agriculture.
Thank you for reading! We hope you found this post “Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes – Agriculture” informative and engaging. Until next time, keep exploring ncertlearn.in and keep learning.
Keywords: Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes, chapter 4 Geography class 10 notes, class 10 Geography Chapter 4, Geography Chapter 4 class 10 notes, geography class 10 chapter 4 notes, Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes, Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes,Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes, Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Notes