Agriculture

This chapter studies agriculture, the primary activity that supports about two-thirds of India's people. It explains the main types of farming — primitive subsistence, intensive subsistence, commercial and plantation farming — and the three cropping seasons of rabi, kharif and zaid. It then describes India's major crops with their geographical conditions and producing regions: food grains (rice, wheat, millets, maize and pulses), cash and beverage crops (sugarcane, oilseeds, tea, coffee and horticulture), and non-food and fibre crops (rubber, cotton and jute). Finally it examines the technological and institutional reforms that have shaped Indian agriculture — the Green and White Revolutions, land reforms, crop insurance, credit and support prices, the Bhoodan-Gramdan movement — and the impact of globalisation on Indian farmers. It is a fact-rich and highly scoring chapter of the Class 10 Geography (Contemporary India II) Board syllabus.