Agriculture in India: Crops, Reforms, and Development PDF

India is an important producer of pea, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil and potato. Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Non-Food Crop...

India is an important producer of pea, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil and potato. Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Non-Food Crops Jute: It is known as the golden fibre. Jute grows Rubber: It is an equatorial crop, but under well on well-drained fertile soils in the flood special conditions, it is also grown in tropical plains where soils are renewed every year. High and sub-tropical areas. It requires moist and temperature is required during the time of humid climate with rainfall of more than 200 growth. West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and cm. and temperature above 25°C. Meghalaya are the major jute producing states. Rubber is an important industrial raw It is used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, material. It is mainly grown in Kerala, Tamil yarn, carpets and other artefacts. Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar Technological and Institutional Reforms islands and Garo hills of Meghalaya. It was mentioned in the previous pages that agriculture has been practised in India for List the items which are made of rubber and thousands of years. Sustained uses of land are used by us. without compatible techno-institutional changes have hindered the pace of agricultural Fibre Crops: Cotton, jute, hemp and natural development. Inspite of development of sources silk are the four major fibre crops grown in India. of irrigation most of the farmers in large parts The first three are derived from the crops grown of the country still depend upon monsoon and in the soil, the latter is obtained from cocoons of natural fertility in order to carry on their the silkworms fed on green leaves specially agriculture. For a growing population, this mulberry. Rearing of silk worms for the poses a serious challenge. Agriculture which production of silk fibre is known as sericulture. provides livelihood for more than 60 per cent of Cotton: India is believed to be the original home its population, needs some serious technical and institutional reforms. Thus, of the cotton plant. Cotton is one of the main collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, raw materials for cotton textile industry. In cooperation and abolition of zamindari, etc. 2017, India was second largest producer of were given priority to bring about institutional cotton after China. Cotton grows well in drier reforms in the country after Independence. parts of the black cotton soil of the Deccan ‘Land reform’ was the main focus of our First plateau. It requires high temperature, light Five Year Plan. The right of inheritance had rainfall or irrigation, 210 frost-free days and already lead to fragmentation of land holdings bright sun-shine for its growth. It is a kharif necessitating consolidation of holdings. crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature. The laws of land reforms were enacted but Major cotton-producing states are– the implementation was lacking or lukewarm. The Government of India embarked upon introducing agricultural reforms to improve Indian agriculture in the 1960s and 1970s. The Green Revolution based on the use of package technology and the White Revolution (Operation Flood) were some of the strategies initiated to improve the lot of Indian agriculture. But, this too led to the concentration of development in few selected areas. Therefore, in the 1980s and 1990s, a comprehensive land development programme was initiated, which Fig. 4.14: Cotton Cultivation included both institutional and technical 38 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II Reprint 2024-25