Land Resources and Agriculture

A. The Nine Land Revenue Land-Use Categories:

1. 1. Forests: Area officially demarcated as forest land by the government.
2. 2. Land Put to Non-Agricultural Uses: Land occupied by settlements (rural and urban), roads, railways, canals, factories, and quarries.
3. 3. Barren and Wastelands: Land that cannot be brought under cultivation with available technology (e.g., steep rocky slopes, ravines, sand dunes).
4. 4. Permanent Pastures and Grazing Lands: Village common grazing grounds (panchayat land).
5. 5. Area under Miscellaneous Tree Crops & Groves: Land under orchards, fruit groves, casuarina, bamboo (not counted in NSA).
6. 6. Culturable Wasteland: Land left fallow/uncultivated for more than 5 consecutive years. Can be reclaimed through soil conservation.
7. 7. Fallow Other Than Current Fallow: Land left uncultivated for a period of between 1 and 5 years to naturally regain soil fertility.
8. 8. Current Fallow: Land left uncultivated for one agricultural year or less to allow the soil to rest and recover humus.
9. 9. Net Sown Area (NSA): The physical area of land on which crops are sown and harvested during an agricultural year (approx. 45% of India's reporting area).

B. Gross Cropped Area & Cropping Intensity:

Gross Cropped Area (GCA): The total area sown once as well as more than once in an agricultural year:

In states like Punjab and Haryana with high tubewell irrigation, Cropping Intensity exceeds 180%–190%, meaning almost the entire farmland is cultivated twice or thrice a year.

A. The Three Cropping Seasons in India:

B. Dryland Farming vs Wetland Farming:

• Dryland Farming: Practiced in arid and semi-arid regions receiving less than 75 cm of annual rainfall. Crops are highly prone to drought. Focuses on soil moisture conservation and drought-resistant hardy crops like Millets (Jowar, Bajra, Ragi), pulses, and oilseeds.
• Wetland Farming: Practiced in heavy rainfall regions (> 100–150 cm) or canal-irrigated river basins. Soil remains saturated with water; crops like Rice, Jute, and Sugarcane thrive, with drainage often required to prevent waterlogging.

A. Foodgrain Staples:

• Rice (Oryza sativa):
  • Kharif tropical staple feeding over half the population. Requires warm temperatures ($> 25^\circ\text{C}$), high humidity, and heavy rainfall ($> 100\text{ cm}$) or standing water irrigation.
  • In West Bengal and Assam, farmers harvest three rice crops in a single year known locally as Aus, Aman, and Boro!
  • Leading Producers: West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab (highest yield per hectare due to Green Revolution tubewells), and Andhra Pradesh.
• Wheat (Triticum):
  • Rabi temperate crop requiring cool growing climate ($10^\circ–15^\circ\text{C}$) and bright sunshine during harvest ($21^\circ–26^\circ\text{C}$) with moderate rain ($50–75\text{ cm}$).
  • Leading Producers: Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
• Millets & Pulses:
  • Jowar: Maharashtra is leading producer; Bajra: Rajasthan leads in sandy soils; Ragi: Karnataka leads in red soils.
  • Pulses (Gram, Tur/Arhar): Crucial protein source for vegetarians. As nitrogen-fixing leguminous plants, they restore atmospheric nitrogen into the soil (grown in crop rotations). Leading producers: MP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra.

B. Commercial & Cash Crops:

• Cotton: Kharif fiber crop requiring 210 frost-free days and deep, moisture-retentive black regur volcanic soils. Leading states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana.
• Jute ("Golden Fibre"): Cash crop for coarse burlap bags. Needs hot, humid climate ($> 30^\circ\text{C}$) and fertile alluvial silt refreshed annually by floods. Leading state: West Bengal (Ganga-Brahmaputra delta).
• Sugarcane: Tropical bamboo-grass crop requiring 75–100 cm rain and long vegetative cycle. Leading states: UP (largest area), Maharashtra (highest sugar recovery rate).
• Tea: Plantation beverage crop requiring warm, humid sub-tropical climate without frost, and well-drained hill slopes (stagnant water rots roots). Leading states: Assam (Brahmaputra valley), West Bengal (Darjeeling), Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris).
• Coffee: High-altitude shade-grown beverage crop. India cultivates superior quality Arabica (high international demand) and Robusta. Leading state: Karnataka (accounts for > 70% of total output) in Kodagu/Chikmagalur, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

A. The Green Revolution (Package Technology, mid-1960s):

To overcome severe food insecurity, India introduced High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of Mexican dwarf wheat and IR8 rice, paired with chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, and assured canal/tubewell irrigation:

• Successes: Achieved foodgrain self-sufficiency, ended reliance on imports, raised rural farm incomes in Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh.
• Environmental Casualties:
  1. Over-irrigation in semi-arid Punjab and Haryana has caused salinization, alkalization, and waterlogging of productive soils.
  2. Excessive tubewell pumping has caused catastrophic depletion of the underground water table.
  3. Chemical runoff has caused soil toxicity and eutrophication of water bodies.

B. Chronic Problems Plaguing Indian Agriculture:

• 1. Extreme Population Pressure on Land: Small, fragmented landholdings (average farm size $< 1.1\text{ hectares}$), rendering mechanization unprofitable.
• 2. Erratic Monsoon Dependence: Over 50% of net sown area still lacks assured irrigation, leaving yields at the mercy of unpredictable droughts and floods.
• 3. Low Productivity: Crop yields per hectare in India are significantly lower than global benchmarks in China, the USA, and Europe.
• 4. Institutional Credit & Debt Traps: Reliance on exploitative village moneylenders leads to cyclical rural indebtedness and agrarian distress.