About 60% (two-thirds) of Indians depend either independently or directly on the agricultural sector. We have large swaths of farmland and much of it has come up after independence & specifically in the 60s, during the green revolution.

Green rice plant with full panicles

Green Field external link

Types of Agriculture

Many types of farming exist in the country, they differ on two axes, technological and economical from subsistence—commercial to primitive—intensive.

Primitive Subsistence Farming

Primitive subsistence farming is the farming done by primitive tools to sustain life.

Location

On small patches of land, done in some parts of rural India for subsistence.

Dependence

Dependent on natural factors like: soil fertility, rain patterns etc.

Method

This agriculture is also called ‘slash & burn’ agriculture due to the fact that farmers cultivate a small patch of land for grains and them set fire to them leave them fallow for a few years. This heals the land and replenishes its nutrients while the farmers clear another patch of land for farming.

This has different names like :

In India:

Jhumming in : Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland

Pamlou in Manipur

DipDipaa in Bastar, Chhattisgarh

Bewar or Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh

Podu or Penda in Andhra Pradesh

Pama Dabi or Koman Bringa in Odisha

Kumari in Western Ghats

Valre or Waltre in South-eastern Rajasthan

Khil in the Himalayan belt

Kuruwa in Jharkhand

Internationally :

Milpa in Mexico and Central America

Conuco in Venzuela

Roca in Brazil

Masole in Central Africa

Ladang in Indonesia

Ray in Vietnam

Intensive Subsistence Farming

Intensive subsistence farming is farming done for subsistence with extra bio-chemical inputs and intensive labour input.

Since the land holdings in India are very small and uneconomical on a personal level the farmers keep trying to get the max output from the limited land. Thus, there is enormous pressure on agricultural land.

Commercial Farming

Commercial farming is farming done with the aim of selling and making a profit on the produce. It’s characterized by the use of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides for higher productivity.

Some crops are subsistence crops in one part of the country (like rice in Odisha) and commercial crops in another part of the country (like Haryana and Punjab).

Plantations

A plantation is a mix of industry and farming. It’s capital and labour intensive. Large swaths of lands are acquired and furnished with capital to grow one kind of crop (like coffee, tea etc.). They are tendered to by migrant labour. Plantations generally provide raw materials for other industries.

Important plantation crops in India include : tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana.

Places they grow at : Tea in Assam and North Bengal. Coffee in Karnataka.

Cropping Pattern

India’s diversity is also showcased in its cropping pattern.

Indian has three principal cropping seasons. They are :

1. Rabi

Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June.

Some important rabi crops are : wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.

States where they are mostly grown : Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Western temperate cyclones help with precipation in winter months. Rabi crops were also helped in Punjab and Haryana by the green revolution.

2. Kharif

Kharif crops are sown at the onset of monsoon in different parts of the country and these are harvested in winter during September-October.

Some important kharif crops are : paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.

States where it’s grown at 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.

It has become important in Punjab and Haryana as commercial crops too.

Assam, West Bengal and Odisha grow three crops of paddy, called Aus, Aman and Boro.

3. Zaid

Zaid is a cropping season between kharif and rabi. Mostly from March to June.

Most crops in zaid are related to horticulture, like : water melon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops. Sugarcane are also grown, though they take upto a year.

Major Grain Crops

Major crops grown in India include both food and non-food crops like wheat, paddy, cotton, jute etc. Major crops include : rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute, etc.

Rice

Wheat

Millet

Maize

Pulses

Major Non-Grain Crops

Sugarcane

Groundnut

Tea

Coffee

Horticulture Crops

Non-Food Crops

Fibre Crops

Cotton

Rubber

Technological & Institutional Reforms

Sustained uses of land without compatible techno-institutional changes have hindered the pace of agricultural development. For a growing population, this poses a serious challenge. Agriculture which provides livelihood for more than 60 per cent of its population, needs some serious technical and institutional reforms.

Some reforms include :

1. Abolition of Zamindaari

However the implementation of this act was pretty bad.

2. Collectivisation & consolidation of land holdings.

Some government schemes like Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS) were introduced for the benefit of the farmers.

Bhoodan Movement: The Bloodless Revolution

Mahatma Gandhi declared Vinoba Bhave as his spiritual heir and a key participant in Satyagraha. Bhave was a staunch supporter of Gandhi’s concept of gram swarajya. After Gandhi’s death, Bhave embarked on a padyatra to spread Gandhi’s message across India.

During a lecture in Pochampalli, Andhra Pradesh, landless villagers requested land for their economic well-being. Although Bhave couldn’t immediately promise land, he assured them he would discuss it with the Government of India if they agreed to cooperative farming.

In response, Shri Ram Chandra Reddy offered 80 acres of land for distribution among 80 landless villagers, an act known as ‘Bhoodan’. Bhave continued to spread his ideas throughout India. Some zamindars offered entire villages to the landless, known as Gramdan. Many landowners, motivated by the fear of land ceiling laws, chose to donate portions of their land.