Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Agriculture Ncert Textbook Questions Solved
Question 1. Name the factors influencing agriculture. What is shifting cultivation? What are its disadvantages? What is plantation agriculture? Name the fibre crops and name the climatic conditions required for their growth.Answer: Agriculture is the primary activity that involves the cultivation of crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers and rearing of livestock.
Factors influencing agriculture include the topography of soil and climate.
Shifting cultivation is the type of farming in which agricultural activities are shifted from one field to another when the fertility of the soil of the former is diminishedDisadvantages:
- Small patches for cultivation
- Not sufficient for feeding a large population.
Plantation agriculture is a type of commercial farming where only a single crop is grown. A large amount of labour and capital are required. The product is processed on the farm itself or nearby factories.
Two major fiber crops are jute and cotton. Jute grows well on alluvial soil and requires high temperature, heavy rainfall, and a humid climate for its growth. Cotton needs high temperatures, light rainfall, and bright sunshine for its proper growth.
Question 2. growing of fruits and vegetables primitive farming
Golden fiber refers to tea
Leading producers of coffee Brazil , , .
- Different lifestyles of the people in different regions.
Question 4. Primary activities and secondary activities. Subsistence farming and intensive farming.Answer:
Solved Questions For You
Q1. What is plantation farming?
Plantation farming is a type of commercial farming. It involves farming on large areas of land to maximize output and profits. This type of farming requires huge capital and involves extensive labour. Some crops grown in plantations are rubber, coffee, cotton, sugarcane etc.
Q2. What are the cash crops farmers cultivate in India?
Ans: Some of the major cash crops grown by Indian farmers are Sugarcane, Jute, Tobacco, and Oilseeds
Main Objectives Of Agricultural Geography
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Six main objectives of agricultural geography are as follows:
To examine the spatial distribution of crops, livestock and other agricultural activities. The cropping patterns and crop and livestock combinations vary in space and time. For example, the crop associations of Punjab and Haryana are different from those of Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal. The causes of such variations and their systematic explanation are one of the primary objectives of agricultural geographers.
To ascertain the spatial concentration of agricultural phenomena. There are certain crops which have very high concentration in one area and low or insignificant concentration in other areas. The reasons for such spatial densities are examined by agricultural geographers.
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Crop associations and crop-livestock combinations change in space and time. What was the crop combination in Punjab in the, pre-Green Revolution period has changed in the post- Green Revolution period. In fact, the wheat and rice combination in Punjab and Haryana is a recent development in the crop land use history of these states.
Apart from the given objectives, the agricultural geographers have to diagnose at the micro level the causes of existing agricultural backwardness, and then to suggest suitable strategies to enhance productivity. This may go a long way in alleviating the marginal and small farmers above the poverty line in a given region.
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Making Sense Of Land Use
Geographers are concerned with understanding why things happen in geographical spaces. Johann Heinrich von Thünen was a farmer on the north German plain, and he developed the foundation of rural land use theory. Because he was a keen observer of the landscape around him, he noticed that similar plots of land in different locations were often used for very different purposes. He concluded that these differences in land use between plots with similar physical characteristics might be the result of differences in location relative to the market. Thus, he went about trying to determine the role that distance from markets plays in creating rural land-use patterns. He was interested in finding laws that govern the interactions between agricultural prices, distance, and land use as farmers sought to make the greatest profit possible.
The second ring, von Thünen believed, would be dedicated to the production and harvest of forest products. This was because, in the early 19th century, people used wood for building, cooking, and heating. Wood is bulky and heavy and therefore difficult to transport. Still, it is not nearly as perishable as milk or fresh vegetables. For those reasons, von Thünen reasoned that wood producers would bid more for the second ring of land around the market center than all other producers of food and fiber, except for those engaged in the production of milk and fresh vegetables.
The Art And Science Of Agriculture
Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising livestock.
Grades
Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography, Social Studies, World History
Fast Fact
TouchdownThe size of an average farm in the United States in 2007 was 449 acres, or about the size of 449 football fields.
Fast Fact
Half of the total value of agricultural products in the U.S. comes from nine states.
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Social Polarization In The United States
Due to the very nature of agriculture, most farmers must live in rural areas. The spatial disparities between the countryside and the cities can sometimes produce very different outlooks on life for a variety of reasons.
Particularly in the United States, these distinct living environments contribute to social polarization in a phenomenon called the urban-rural political divide. On average, urban citizens in the US tend to be more left-leaning in their political, social, and/or religious views, while rural citizens tend to be more conservative. This disparity can be amplified the further removed urbanites become from the agricultural process. It can also be amplified further if commercialization reduces the number of small farms, making rural communities even smaller and more homogenous. The less these two groups interact, the greater the political divide becomes.
Technological And Institutional Reforms
Agriculture provides a livelihood for more than 60% of its population, so this sector needs some serious technical and institutional reforms. The Green Revolution and the White Revolution were some of the reforms initiated by people to improve agriculture.
Some Initiatives taken by the Government are:
- Schemes introduced by Government such as Kissan Credit Card , Personal Accident Insurance Scheme .
- Special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes for farmers on the radio and television were introduced.
- The government also announces minimum support price, remunerative and procurement prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.
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Land And Water Issues
Land transformation, the use of land to yield goods and services, is the most substantial way humans alter the Earth’s ecosystems, and is the driving force causing biodiversity loss. Estimates of the amount of land transformed by humans vary from 39 to 50%. Land degradation, the long-term decline in ecosystem function and productivity, is estimated to be occurring on 24% of land worldwide, with cropland overrepresented. Land management is the driving factor behind degradation 1.5 billion people rely upon the degrading land. Degradation can be through deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, mineral depletion, acidification, or salinization.
Patterns Of Pollutions And Agricultural Policies
Patterns of geographic locality of pollution has, therefore, had a strong association with regions of focused agricultural policies by the state.
In Europe, pollution laws have transcended many states under the European Union, forcing many countries to also adopt their policy towards potential pollutants such as pesticides.
For countries and regions where agriculture has formed a greater focus for the local economy, greater environmental damage has been evident.
In many first world countries, improved ecological conditions as well as food safety have, therefore, emerged as key issues.
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Commercial Gardening And Fruit Farming
A market garden is a relatively small- scale business, growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers . The farms are small, from under one acre to a few acres . The diversity of crops is sometimes cultivated in greenhouses, dis- tinguishing it from other types of farming. Commercial gardening and fruit farming is quite diverse, requiring more manual labor and gardening techniques. In the United States, commercial gardening and fruit farming is the predominant type of agriculture in the Southeast, the region with a warm and humid climate and a long growing season. In addition to the traditional vegetables and fruits , a new kind of commercial gardening has developed in the Northeast. This is a non-traditional market garden, growing crops that, although limited, are increasingly demanded by consumers, such as asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, and strawberries. Market gardening has become an alternative business, significantly profitable and sustainable especially with the recent popularity of organic and local food.A garden with edible plants for use in a culinary school in Lawrenceville, Georgia.U.S. Department of AgricultureWikimedia CommonsLicense | Public Domain
Crop Alteration And Biotechnology
Crop alteration has been practiced by humankind for thousands of years, since the beginning of civilization. Altering crops through breeding practices changes the genetic make-up of a plant to develop crops with more beneficial characteristics for humans, for example, larger fruits or seeds, drought-tolerance, or resistance to pests. Significant advances in plant breeding ensued after the work of geneticist Gregor Mendel. His work on dominant and recessive alleles, although initially largely ignored for almost 50 years, gave plant breeders a better understanding of genetics and breeding techniques. Crop breeding includes techniques such as plant selection with desirable traits, self-pollination and cross-pollination, and molecular techniques that genetically modify the organism.
Domestication of plants has, over the centuries increased yield, improved disease resistance and drought tolerance, eased harvest and improved the taste and nutritional value of crop plants. Careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and 1930s improved pasture in New Zealand. Extensive X-ray and ultraviolet induced mutagenesis efforts during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn and barley.
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Development Of Agricultural Geography
Thousands of years ago, most humans acquired food through hunting wild game, gathering wild plants, and fishing. The transition to agriculture began around 12,000 years ago, and today, less than 1% of the global population still acquires the majority of their food from hunting and gathering.
Around 10,000 BC, many human societies began transitioning to agriculture in an event dubbed “the Neolithic Revolution.” Most of our modern agricultural practices emerged around the 1930s as part of “the Green Revolution.”
The development of agriculture is tied to arable land, which is land that is capable of being used for crop growth or livestock pasture. Societies that had access to a greater quantity and quality of arable land could transition to agriculture more easily. However, societies with a greater abundance of wild game and less access to arable land would feel less of an impetus to stop hunting and gathering.
Cbse Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 4
Two-thirds of Indias population is engaged in agricultural activities. Agriculture is a primary activity, which produces most of the food raw material for various industries. In CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 4 Agriculture, you will study the various types of farming, cropping patterns and major crops grown in India. In the end, you will know how much Agriculture contributes to the National Economy, Employment and Output. You can also download these notes in PDF for offline reading as well.
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Food Crops Other Than Grains
Sugarcane
Oil Seeds
Different oil seeds are grown covering approximately 12% of the total cropped area of India. 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 : is a Kharif crop in the north and rabi crop in south India.
- Castor seeds: It is grown as both Rabi and Kharif crop.
- Linseed: is a rabi crop.
Coffee
Horticulture Crops
Population And Food Production
Recall that English economist Thomas Malthus proposed that the world rate of population growth was far outrunning the development of food supplies. Malthus proposed that the human population was growing exponentially, while food production was growing linearly. Below is an example:
- Today 1 person, 1 unit of food
- 25 years from now 2 persons, two units of food
- 50 years from now 4 persons, three units of food
- 75 years from now 8 persons, four units of food
- 100 years from now 16 persons, five units of food
Others discredit Malthus because his hypothesis is based on the world supply of resources being fixed rather than flexible and expanding. Technology may enable societies to be more efficient with scarce resources or allow for the use of new resources that were once not feasible. Some believe population growth is not a bad thing either. A large population could stimulate economic growth and, therefore, the production of food.
So even with a global community of 7 billion, food production has grown faster than the global rate of natural increase. Better growing techniques, higher-yielding, and genetically modified seeds, and better cultivation of more land have helped expand food supplies globally. However, many have noted that food production has started to slow and level off. Without new technology breakthroughs in food production, the food supply will not keep up with population growth.
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Current And Future Trends
droughtDesertificationFamines
- dramatically increased yield outputs of food
- made food production very efficiently for large-scale production: lowered labor costs where one farmer can work large farms
- the development of pesticides improved crop yields by eliminating competition with other plants or predatory insects
- agricultural chemicals have unintended ecological consequences, loss of biodiversity, loss of pollinating insects
- contamination of drinking water
- minimal use of fertilizers, pesticides, and fuel
- helps preserve or improve soil, water quality, and biodiversity
- crop variations are usually more mixed, which contributes to healthier diets and more sustainable farm ecosystems
- organic methods are traditional in most areas, and low costs make this approach appropriate for poor farmers in developing regions
- integrated pest management where only small amounts of pesticides are used with other insect control strategies
- cost to the farmer and cost to the consumer
- organic isn’t always more environmentally friendly, local is sometimes more important than organic
- non-organic farms can contaminate organic farms through water sources or pollination
- yields increase with GM crops
- many GM crops are developed and designed so that the crops create their own natural insecticide
- allows for the expansion of agriculture into lands formerly unable to produce food
- increased nutrient values and protein consumption to help with malnutrition
Examples Of Agricultural Geography
Physical geography can have a profound effect on agricultural practices. Take a look at the map below, which shows relative arable land by country. Our modern cropland can be correlated to the arable land people had access to in the past. Notice that there is relatively little arable land in the Sahara Desert in North Africa or the cold environment of Greenland. These places simply cannot support large-scale crop growth.
Figure 2: Arable land by country as defined by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Our World in Data, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
In some areas with less arable land, people may turn almost exclusively to livestock agriculture. For example, in North Africa, hardier animals like goats need little subsistence to survive and can provide a stable source of milk and meat for humans. However, larger animals like cattle require quite a bit more food to survive, and therefore require access to larger pastures with plenty of greens, or feed in the form of hayâboth of which require arable land, and neither of which a desert environment can support. Similarly, some societies may get most of their food from fishing, or be forced to import most of their food from other countries.
Not all of the fish we consume are caught wild. See our explanation of Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, like tuna, shrimp, lobster, crab, and seaweed.
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Contribution Of Agriculture To The National Economy Employment And Output
- In 2010-11 about 52% of the total workforce was employed by the farm sector.
- The share of agriculture in the GDP is declining.
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research , agricultural universities, veterinary services and animal breeding centres, horticulture development, research and development in the field of meteorology and weather forecast, etc. are a few of the initiatives introduced by the government to improve Indian agriculture.
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