Land Resources and Agriculture

Class 12 Geography

Some land is occupied by rivers, some may have trees and on some parts roads and buildings have been built. Different types of lands are suited to different uses. Human beings use land as a resource for production as well as residence and recreation.

Land Use Categories

Land-use records are maintained by land revenue department. The land use categories add up to reporting area, which is somewhat different from the geographical area. The Survey of India is responsible for measuring geographical area of administrative units in India.

The difference between the two concepts are that while the former changes somewhat depending on the estimates of the land revenue records, the latter does not change and stays fixed as per Survey of India measurements.

Land-use Changes in India

India has undergone major changes within the economy over the past four or five decades, and this has influenced the land-
use changes in the country.

Five categories have undergone increases, while four have registered declines. Share of area under forest, area under non-agricultural uses, current fallow lands and net area sown have shown an increase.

Agricultural Land Use in India

Agriculture is a purely land based activity unlike secondary and tertiary activities. In other words, contribution of land in agricultural output is more compared to its contribution in the outputs in the other sectors.

Quality of land has a direct bearing on the productivity of agriculture, which is not true for other activities. In rural areas, aside from its value as a productive factor, land ownership has a social value and serves as a security for credit, natural hazards or life contingencies, and also adds to the social status.

Cropping Seasons in India

There are three distinct crop seasons in the northern and interior parts of country:

1. Kharif
2. Rabi
3. Zaid

The kharif season largely coincides with Southwest Monsoon under which the cultivation of tropical crops, such as rice, cotton, jute, jowar, bajra and tur is possible.

The rabi season begins with the onset of winter in October-November and ends in March-April. The low temperature conditions during this season facilitate the cultivation of temperate and subtropical crops such as wheat, gram and mustard.

Zaid is a short duration summer cropping season beginning after harvesting of rabi crops. The cultivation of watermelons, cucumbers, vegetables and fodder crops during this season is done on irrigated lands.

However, this type of distinction in the cropping season does not exist in southern parts of the country. Here, the temperature is high enough to grow tropical crops during any period in the year provided the soil moisture is available. Therefore, in this region same crops can be grown thrice in an agricultural year provided there is sufficient soil moisture.

Foodgrains

On the basis of the structure of grain the food grains are classified as cereals and pulses.

India produces a variety of cereals, which are classified as fine grains (rice, wheat) and coarse grains (jowar, bajra, maize, ragi), etc.

Pulses are a very important ingredient of vegetarian food as these are rich sources of proteins. These are legume crops which increase the natural fertility of soils through nitrogen fixation.

Oilseeds

The oilseeds are produced for extracting edible oils. Drylands of Malwa plateau, Marathwada, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka plateau are oilseeds growing regions of India.

Fibre Crops

These crops provide us fibre for preparing cloth, bags, sacks and a number of other items. Cotton and jute are two main fibre crops grown in India.