- Land, Resources and Agriculture
NCERT Questions
- Choose the right answer of the following from the given options:
(i) Which one of the following is not a land use category?
a) Follow land
b) Marginal land
c) Net sown area
d) Culturable wasteland
Ans. b) Marginal land
(ii) Which one of the following is the main reason due to which share of forest has shown an increase in the last 40 years?
a) Extensive and efficient effort of afforestation
b) Increase in community forest Land
c) Increase in notified area allocated for forest growth
d) Better people’s participation in managing forest area
Ans. c) Increase in notified area allocated for forest growth
(iii) Which one of the following is the main form of degradation in irrigated areas?
a) Gully erosion
b) Wind erosion
c) Salinization of soils
d) Siltation of land
Ans. c) Salinization of soils
(iv) Which one of the following crops is not cultivated under DIY land farming?
a) Ragi
b) Jwar
c) Groundnuts
d) Sugarcane
Ans. d) Sugarcane
(v) In which of the following group of countries of the world, HYV of wheat and rice are developed?
a) Japan and Australia
b) USA and Japan
c) Mexico and Philippines
d) Mexico and Singapore
Ans. c) Mexico and Philippines
- Answer the following questions in about 30 words:
(i) Differentiate between barren and wasteland and culturable wasteland.
Ans.
| Barren and Wasteland | Culturable wasteland |
| a) Barren and wasteland refers to that land which cannot be brought under cultivation practices even with the use of present technology. b) It is a land which is depleted due to land degradation or other natural factors. c) Example ravines of Chambal. | a) Culturable wasteland is the land which is left fellow for more than 5 years.
b) It can be brought under cultivation with present reclamation technologies. |
(ii) How would you distinguish between net sown area and gross cropped area?
Ans.
| Net Sown Area | Gross Cropped Area |
| a) The physical extent of land in which crops are sown and harvested in a year is known as the net sown area. This is the area actually cultivated. b) Does not take into account multiple cropping. | a) The total area cultivated once, twice or multiple times in a year is the gross cropped area.
b) Multiple cropping is taken into account.
|
(iii) What is the difference between dry land and wetland farming?
Ans.
| Dry Land Farming | Wetland Farming |
| a) In India, it is confined to area with rainfall of less than 75 centimetres in a year. Rainfall is less than the total moisture requirement of the soil. b) These areas face problems of drought. c) Methods of water conservation are used. Also, water harvesting is carried out. d) Hardy and drought resistant crops like jawar, bajra gram are grown. e) Practiced in areas like northern Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
| a) Rainfall is more than the total moisture requirement of the soil during rainy season.
b) Problems of flash flood and soil erosion are faced. c) Aqua culture is practiced in these areas due to excess of water.
d) Water intensive crops like rice, sugar cane and jute are grown. e) Practiced in rainier parts of Bihar, Odisha, Assam and West Bengal. |
(iv) Why is the strategy of increasing cropping intensity important in a country like India?
Ans. The strategy of increasing crop intensity aims at increasing the productivity of a piece of land by increasing the number of times it is cultivated in a year. It aims at increasing the productivity of agriculture by increasing the productivity of already cultivated area. It is important for country like India where there is dearth of land so it is difficult to bring new pieces of land under cultivation to meet the ever increasing demand of rising population.
(v) How do you measure a total cultivable land?
Ans. Total cultivable land is the entire land which can be cultivated either in the current state or after reclaiming it through the available technologies. It is the sum of total culturable wasteland. Fallow other than current fallow and net sown area.
3. Answer the following questions in about 150 words:
(i) What are the different types of environmental problems of land resources in India?
Ans. Land resources in India are faced with multiple issues that lead to decline in their productivity. The causes are both environmental and related to malpractices. The main environmental issues confronting Indian resources are:
Dependence of erratic monsoon: Irrigation covers only about 33% of the cultivated area in India. The crop production in rest of the cultivated land directly depends on rainfall. Poor monsoon adversely affects the supply of canal water for irrigation. Rainfall in drought prone areas is too meagre and highly unreliable. Even the areas receiving high annual rainfall experience considerable fluctuations. This makes them vulnerable to both droughts and floods. Droughts and floods continue to be twin menace in India.
Low productivity: The yield of the crop in the country is low in comparison to the international level. Indian agriculture is also very low in comparison to international level. The vast rainfed areas of the country, particularly dry lands, which mostly grow coarse serials, pulses and oil seeds, have very low yields.
Degradation of cultivable land: One of the serious problems that arise out of the faulty strategy of irrigation and agricultural development is degradation of land resources. It leads to depletion of soil fertility. In irrigated areas, a large track of agricultural land lost its fertility due to alkalisation and salinization of soils and waterlogging. Excessive use of chemicals such as insecticides and pesticides has led to their concentration in toxic amounts in the soil profile. Leguminous crops have been displaced from the cropping pattern in the irrigated areas and duration of fellow has substantially reduced owing to multiple cropping. This has obliterated the process of natural fertilization such as nitrogen fixation. Rain fed areas also experience degradation of several types like soil erosion by water and wind erosion, which are often induced by human activities.
(ii) What are the important strategies for agricultural development followed in the post-independence in India?
Ans. Indian agricultural economy was largely subsistence in nature before independence. During partition, about 1/3 of the irrigated land of undivided India went to Pakistan. After independence, the immediate goal of the government was to increase food grain production by:
- a) Switching over from cash crops to food crops
- b) Intensification of cropping over already cultivated land
- c) Increasing cultivated area by bringing cultivable and fallow land under plough
Later intensive agricultural district program (IADP) and Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP) were launched. But two consecutive droughts during mid-1960s resulted in food crisis in the country.
New seed varieties of wheat (Mexico) and rise (Philippines) known as high yielding varieties (HYV) were available for cultivation by later 1960s, India took advantage of this and introduced package technology comprising HYV along with chemical fertilizers in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat leading fast agricultural growth. This spurt of agricultural growth came to be known as Green Revolution. This also gave fillip to the development of a large number of agro inputs, agro processing industries and small scale industries. This strategy of agricultural development made the country self-reliant in food grain production.
The Planning Commission of India focused its attention on the problems of agriculture in rain fed areas in 1980s. It initiated agro climatic planning in 1988 to induce regionally balanced agricultural development in the country. It also emphasised the need for diversification of agriculture and harnessing of resources for development of dairy farming, poultry, horticulture, livestock rearing and aquaculture.
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