Agriculture

MAJOR CROPS On the basis of their use, major crops of the world are classified into—

1. Cereals
2. Fibre crops
3. Beverage crops

Let us learn about them in detail.

1. Cereals They include rice, wheat, maize and millets.

Rice

• Soil type: Alluvial loamy and clayey soils are ideal for rice cultivation.
• Temperature: 24° C or above with minor variations during sowing, growing and harvesting seasons.
• Rainfall: Rice flourishes well in the areas where rainfall is above 100 cm.
• Areas: Deltas, river valleys, coastal plains and terraced fields in mountainous regions are ideal for cultivation of rice.
• Rice producing areas in the World: China leads the production of rice followed by India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Japan.
• Rice producing areas in India: India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China. Rice is mainly cultivated in India in the states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.

Do You Know?

Crop	Leading Exporters
Rice	Thailand and Vietnam
Wheat	Canada and USA
Maize	China, France and USA
Tea	China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka
Cotton	Australia, USA and Uzbekistan

Wheat

• Soil type: Loamy soil is required.
• Temperature: The ideal temperature for wheat at the time of sowing is 10°-15° C and at the time of harvesting is 20-25° C.

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• Rainfall: It grows well in 75-100 cm of rainfall. Harvest period should be frost free.
• Areas: Mid-latitudinal and dry sub-tropical regions are ideal for its cultivation. It is the main crop of temperate regions.
• Wheat producing areas in the World: Temperate grasslands of North America, South America and Central Eurasia. China, India, Russia, USA, France, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, Australia, and Ukraine are leading wheat producing countries of the world.
• Wheat producing areas in India: Wheat cultivation is mainly confined to the Northern and central regions of India. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra are the major wheat producing states.

Maize

• Soil type: Maize generally grows well in areas of well-drained alluvial soil.
• Temperature: It grows well in 21-27° C.
• Rainfall: Rainfall requirement is 50-100 cm. In areas of less rainfall, it is grown under irrigation.
• Areas in the World: USA, China, Brazil, India, Argentina, Ukraine, Mexico, Indonesia, France and South Africa are the major countries. It is known as corn in the USA.
• Areas in India: In India, maize is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It is known as makka in India.

Millets

• Soil type: They are grown on soils of poor quality.
• Temperature: They grow well in 18-32° C.
• Rainfall: Rainfall requirement is about 30-75 cm.
• Areas in the World: India, Nigeria, Niger, China, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Ethiopia are the main countries.

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• Areas in India: Millets include coarse grains like jowar, bajra and ragi. These are used both as food grain and as fodder.
  • Jowar is mainly cultivated in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, whereas bajra is grown in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. Ragi is mostly grown in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharastra, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa.

2. Fibre Crops Fibres can be divided into two categories on the basis of origin—natural fibre and artificial fibre.

• Natural fibres are cotton, jute, natural silk and wool.
• Artificial fibres are rayon, nylon and terricot.

Do You Know? Egypt produces one of the finest cotton in the world.

Cotton

• Soil type: Alluvial and black soil are ideal for its cultivation.
• Temperature: It is a crop of tropical and sub-tropical regions. It requires 30-40° C temperature.
• Rainfall: It grows well in regions of 60-100 cm of annual rainfall. During the harvesting period weather should be dry, frost free and sunny.
• Areas in the World: China, India, USA, Pakistan, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Australia are the main countries.
• Areas in India: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana are the main cotton producing states.
• Cheap and efficient labour is required for plucking cotton balls. It is mainly grown under irrigation.

Jute

• Soil type: Alluvial soil found in river delta is good for the crop. It grows well in flood plains.
• Temperature: Jute crop requires more than 25° C temperature.
• Rainfall: Annual rainfall should be more than 150 cm.

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• Areas in the World: India, Bangladesh, China, Ivory Coast, Thailand, Myanmar and Brazil are the main countries.
• Area in India: India is one of the leading producers. In India, jute is cultivated in Ganga-Brahmaputra delta of West Bengal. Also, Assam, Bihar, Meghalaya and Odisha are jute producing states.

Do You Know?

• Retting is a process by which the fibre is separated from the plant stem by decaying them in water.
• The demand for jute is continuously decreasing because of its high cost and easy availability of cheap synthetic substitutes.

3. Beverage Crops Tea and Coffee are two important beverage crops.

Tea

• Soil type: A deep well-drained fertile alluvial soil is good for the crop.
• Temperature: It grows well in hot and humid conditions of the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Temperature requirement is 20-30° C.
• Rainfall: It needs 150-300 cm of annual rainfall. Hilly slopes are ideal for its cultivation.
• Areas in the World: China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Iran and Argentina are the leading producers of tea.
• Areas in India: Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are major tea producing states.

Do You Know? It was the British who started Tea Plantation in India.

Coffee

• Soil type: Coffee needs well-drained, fertile soil in the hilly slopes.
• Temperature: Coffee plant needs hot and humid climate. The ideal temperature for its cultivation is 15-28° C.
• Rainfall: Rainfall requirement is 150-200 cm. Irrigation is required where the annual rainfall is less than 100 cm.

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• Areas in the World: Brazil is the leading producer of coffee in the world. Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, India, Honduras, Uganda and Mexico are the other main coffee producing countries.
• Areas in India: Major coffee producing states of India are hilly regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT Food is essential for the growth of all human beings. With the growth of population in the world, the demand of food has also increased. Earlier, people had surplus food because the population was less than the production. With the passage of time, population explosion has increased the pressure on land to produce more food. This situation compelled the people to develop new techniques of agriculture so that productivity could be increased. The farmers started using HYV of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and modern equipments.

Now, some countries have developed genetically modified crops through biotechnology. Biotechnology involves the use of living organisms and bio-processes in engineering, technology, medicine, etc. It also covers genetic engineering, cell and tissue, culture technologies, manufacture of drugs, environmental management, etc. In this, the higher yield is produced by introducing foreign genes from different species. It has more nutritional value, better flavour and colour in the food. The use of genetically modified crops is still limited. Scientists believe that genetically modified crops can help the environment by reducing the problem of pesticides. Critics of biotechnology are worried about the adverse effects of genetically modified crops on the environment.

In developing countries, manual labour is used for most of the agricultural activities, whereas in developed countries, agriculture is highly mechanised. Most of the population of the developing countries is engaged in agriculture and its allied activities. However, the ratio of population in agriculture is minimum in developed countries like Canada and USA.