Notes on Agriculture for Class 10!
Notes on Agriculture
Term Paper Contents:
- Class 10 Notes on Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Intensive Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Sustainable Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Global Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Dryland Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Chemical Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Organic Agriculture
- Class 10 Notes on Traditional Agriculture
1. Class 10 Notes on Agriculture:
Agriculture is a human activity in which people use areas of land to produce food, clothing materials and other products. The Latin word ager means a field, and dictionaries usually describe agriculture as the art or science of cultivating the ground. This is the oldest meaning of the word, but now it also means using the land to raise animals, fruit and other products.
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When early man turned from being a nomadic food-gatherer and began to live in settled communities, it became necessary for him to cultivate the soil so that he would have supplies of food close at hand.
We do not know how men found out how to grow plants, but perhaps the first farmers saw that plants grew up from seeds which the people had thrown away after eating fruit. As time went by, men became much more skilled in growing plants for food, thus allowing greater numbers of people to live together in communities. Large towns and cities were able to grow and develop only because they were supported by farming in the surrounding countryside.
Because civilisations depend so much on agriculture to supply food and clothing, it is clear that the soil is a most valuable possession, and loss of the soil is a very serious matter. For centuries of time in different parts of the world men continued to sow the same crops in cultivated land and to gather the harvests. Then, as history tells us, the land became less and less productive; soil erosion occurred in some of the drier countries and turned the green fields into deserts.
In many such lands, crops have never since been grown in the soil. This practice of growing the same crop in the soil year after year is called monoculture. The first lesson for any student of agriculture to learn is that monoculture may result in permanent damage to the soil, or in soil erosion.
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After many lands had been ruined by monoculture and erosion, an important discovery was made—that if the manure of animals was mixed with the soil the ground became more fertile and could continue to grow good crops. Much later it was found that soils could also be improved by adding to them the leaves and stalks of plants.
Using these facts the Chinese people have kept some of their soils fertile for 4000 years. Many Chinese farmers still grow two good crops a year on their land, but every bit of plant matter—old crops, grasses, and weeds—and every bit of animal manure is carefully saved and later dug into the soil.
In recent years scientists have found new ways of protecting the soil from erosion, and new ways of increasing the fertility of the soil so that it produces more and more plant material. This has made it possible for a given area of land to support greater numbers of people and farm animals.
There are several ways of thinking about agriculture. It is an important way of life and it is also a way of making a living. The scientist thinks of agriculture as a way of turning light energy from the sun into human food.
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2. Class 10 Notes on Intensive Agriculture:
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The farmers opt for intensive agriculture to attain any of the following objectives:
i. To increase the yield from the same land area.
ii. To obtain the same produce in the successive crop seasons (monoculture).
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iii. To replace the traditional crop by some other profitable crop.
The intensive agriculture comprises irrigation, fertilizer, pesticide, genetic selection and increased frequency of cropping. These intensive agriculture strategies have typical ecological consequences leading to soil erosion and causing general degradation. Many countries, particularly in Africa have changed their traditional crops to profitable crops like tea, coffee, tobacco and cotton and have thus created food shortages.
Such measures are taken with the support of the government, which is too anxious to earn the foreign exchange. The extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides in the context of pollution of water sources. The pesticides have caused widespread chemical pollution, destruction of wildlife and disturbance of ecosystems.
The evolution of species resistant to certain pesticides, has posed a persistent problem to which developed economies have responded by developing still stronger pesticides and thus we have got several persistent organic chemicals in air, water and soil of our earth. Since 1950s there has been a tenfold increase in number of pesticide resistant species.
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This is reflected in gradual increase in crop losses in USA, particularly. Integrated pest management (IPM) is being considered by farmers as an alternative to large-scale use of pesticides. IPM consists in manual, biological and where necessary, chemical control of pests. During 1980s Indonesia banned 57 insecticides in the wake of evolution of a resistant insect, brown-plant hopper, and encouraged farmers to go for IPM.
Fertilizers running off with water have polluted water everywhere and even resulted in eutrophication via an overload of phosphates and nitrates. Blue-green algae have become a source of nuisance in different water sources like lakes and seas. Nitrogenous fertilizers become the source of nitrous oxide that is a greenhouse gas. Yet for many developing countries increasing the use of fertilizers seems unavoidable.
China has stepped up the consumption of fertilizers since 1995. Increase in India’s consumption of fertilizer has been more gradual during this period, but most of the increase of 2 million tons in fertilizer use worldwide during the period 1999- 2000 is shared between China and India. The international trade in fertilizers has increased and prices have reduced.
The USA and Western Europe have reduced the use of fertilizers. India consumes about 17 million tons of fertilizer, which is very close to 20 million tons consumed by USA. Extensive irrigation causes stress on water resources and large numbers of water resources have been pushed to their extinction. One such source, Ogallala aquifer in USA, is an example. Besides water resources the soil is also at risk due to irrigation via the loss of micronutrients and other organisms.
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Aral Lake, which was destroyed due to indiscriminate use of water from rivers that terminated in it, presents a dramatic casualty of intensive irrigation. The erstwhile government of the USSR fully supported the monoculture of cotton to be farmed in farms of Uzbekistan. The Aral Lake besides being polluted by factory emissions was starved of water from the rivers that fell into it.
Most of this water did not reach the lake and was diverted for irrigating the cotton fields. The vast Aral Lake now is a conglomerate of a number of water puddles, which are separated by glistening patches of salty lands. After having sat upon this devastation of Aral Lake for several years, the USSR Government finally declared it an ecological disaster beyond human control.
The lake has shrunk to less than half its original size, the fish have died and there is no commercial fishing now. All those fishing boats and equipment, which were kept engaged throughout the year now lie idle. The crops in the residual cotton fields have come under perpetual danger as salt from exposed bottom of the lake blows on them.
The loss amounts to $10 billion every year and it will require an equal expenditure to avoid conversion of land into desert that is in the offing. The pesticide use in that region was twenty times the national average and ill effects on the human health have been observed as increased death rates and illnesses particularly among infants.
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Large-scale intensive agriculture entails high investment and concentration of land ownership. Mechanization of agriculture particularly for the purpose of earning foreign exchange is possible with large investment. This trend results in adverse effects on marginalized temporary workers. Many farm workers in several countries of Asia and Africa have gone jobless and suffer from bad health.
They have to keep moving from one region to another without any guarantee of shelter and health care. The jobs are also not assured and many remain unemployed. Such labour is politically powerless and hence cannot demand for rights. They become socially disorganized and potentially dangerous for stability of the country. They suffer from several diseases and increased infant mortality rate.
The trends of such intensive agriculture are seen in Brazil and India. Zimbabwe is yet another country, which suffered from similar conditions and intervention from the government, has created problems that are still not solved. Carl Pope in his book Strategic Ignorance suggests that for attaining sustainable food supplies from the available soil and land, it is essential to rid the agribusiness from large holdings, government subsidies, monoculture, and intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers.
He thinks that genetic engineering has been used as an excuse for driving out small farmers and expanding herbicide-dependent monocultures. As an example he suggests home gardens can provide to families a variety of fruits without use of pesticides and fertilizers.
This practice of growing fruits and vegetables in courtyard gardens in Java, Indonesia, has been quite successful for centuries. Food will not become affordable and available to six billion humans unless it is stopped from continuing as business. The food as business tends to depend more upon making profit irrespective of small farmers going out of employment.
Several disadvantages of the intensive agriculture have been identified and efforts by environmentalists are on in the USA to develop low-input farming. Overuse of erodible lands, chemical residues in food, and groundwater contamination by chemicals are a few areas that have attracted attention of the people, scientists and environmentalists. In the supermarkets in USA the organic produces are being sold at higher prices. These produces do not depend upon extensive irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides.
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3. Class 10 Notes on Sustainable Agriculture:
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Sustained agricultural growth is a must, not an option, for most developing countries. Many developing countries have achieved impressive growth rates in agriculture in recent decades. India, which was threatened by hunger and mass starvation in the 1960s, is now self- sufficient in staple foods even though population had more than doubled. In spite of this success in food front, serious issues remain unsolved for the future agricultural growth.
The most important being the environmental problems associated with agriculture which could threaten the future levels of agricultural productivity. The aggressive agricultural production through use of modern technology and increasing food demand had driven the cultivation frontier into less favoured, often environmentally fragile areas, such as forests, hill sides and wetlands.
Reduction of fallow periods has depressed the soil fertility. Therefore agricultural growth must be based on a sustainable basis so as not to jeopardize the underlying base of natural resources especially forest resources and it must ensure intergenerational equity so that future generations are not affected.
A sustainable agricultural system can only be achieved by not depleting the value of capital stock such as forest resources over time and replenishing any capital depreciation or losses incurred in the production process. For this purpose, capital is defined to include all natural resource, human and man-made capital assets. It is critical that natural resources like forest resources are accounted and valued properly to design sustainable policies.
Drawing the line between value and price is very fundamental to understand natural resources. Value of a commodity is a complex entity based on a theory, a philosophy and concepts of rationality. The philosophy can be existence (i.e. right to exist).
The rationality can be equity (inter and intra generational) or pure market clearance. Economists capture the value through a concept of ‘Willingness to Pay’ by the consumer, user, non-user, or people at large. For various reasons, this value is not always revealed by people.
Price for a commodity (or service) on the other hand, is based on a principle of scarcity. It reflects a balance between what a buyer or a consumer is ‘Willing To Pay’ (WTP) and a seller is ‘Willing To Accept’ (WTA). When it comes to natural resources, many resources do not have markets so they may not have a price, but they still have values.
4. Class 10 Notes on Global Agriculture:
Agriculture sector recorded satisfactory growth due to improved technology, irrigation, inputs and pricing policies. Livestock, poultry, fisheries and horticulture are surging ahead in production growth in recent years and will have greater demand in the future. Industrial and service sectors have expanded faster than agriculture sector resulting in declining share of agriculture in national accounts.
Despite the structural change, agriculture still remains a key sector, providing both employment and livelihood opportunities to more than 70 per cent of the country’s population who live in rural areas. Water availability for agricultural uses has reached a critical level and deserves urgent attention of all concerned.
India has high population pressure on land, water and other resources to meet its food and development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and biodiversity is under severe pressure. Food demand challenges ahead are formidable considering the non-availability of favourable factors of past growth, fast declining factor productivity in major cropping systems and rapidly shrinking resource base.
Land and Water Resources:
India has a wide range of soils, each type being particular of a specific locality. Alluvial and black cotton soils are the two most important soil groups for agriculture. Alluvial soils (73 M ha) occur in Indo-Gangetic Plains, in the valleys of Narmada and Tapi in MP and the Cauveri in TN. Black cotton soils (52 M ha) are in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP. Karnataka, AP, TN, UP and Rajasthan. Both these two soil groups are ideal for a number of crops.
In addition, red soils (52 M ha) are found in AP, TN, MP, WB, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Bihar. These soils are ideal for rice, coarse grains, tobacco and vegetables. Laterite and lateritic soils (12.5 M ha) and desert soils (30 M ha) of different states are not ideal for economic crop production.
Regarding land use, field crops were grown on about 45 per cent of the total land mass of India around 2000 AD. Of this cultivated land, almost 37 M ha were double cropped, making the gross sown area equivalent to almost 173 M ha. About 15 M ha were permanent pastureland or were planted in various tree crops and groves.
Approximately 108 M ha were developed for non-agricultural uses, forested or unsuited for agriculture because of topography. About 29.6 M ha of the remaining land were classified as cultivable but fallow and 15.6 M ha were classified as cultivable wasteland.
These 45 M ha constitute all the land left for expanding the sown area; for various reasons; however, much of it is unsuited for immediate cropping or require huge investment of bringing under cultivation. Expansion in crop production, therefore, has to come almost entirely from increasing yields on lands already in some kind of agricultural use (GOI 2001).
The land area under irrigation expanded from 22.6 M ha in 1950 to 59 M ha in 1990, an increase of 161 per cent in four decades. Roughly 42 per cent of the net irrigated area in 1990 was from surface water sources. Tanks, open wells and tube wells provided another 51 per cent; the rest came from other sources.
Between 1951 and 1990, nearly 1,350 large and medium sized irrigation works were started and about 850 were completed. The most ambitious of these projects was the Indira Gandhi Canal, with an anticipated completion date of close to 1999. When completed, the Indira Gandhi Canal will be the world’s longest irrigation canal.
5. Class 10 Notes on Dryland Agriculture:
Drylands are spread over 41.3% of the earth’s surface. They are subdivided into hyper-arid, arid, semi- arid and sub-humid, which accounts for 6.6, 10.6, 15.2 and 8.7% of the land surface, respectively. The extent of drylands in various regions ranges from 20 to 90 percent. Around 60 percent of drylands are located in developing countries. They provide much of the world’s food grain, vegetables and fruits. Water is considered as the most precious resource in dryland agriculture.
About 41.3% of the surface of the earth can be classified as drylands. According to the World Atlas of Desertification, drylands have an aridity index defined as a ratio of average annual precipitation (P) to potential evapotranspiration (PET) of less than 0.65. Based on aridity index, the drylands can be further subdivided into: hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid and sub-humid.
The hyper-arid zones extend mostly across the Saharan, Arabian and Gobi deserts and have only localized population around valleys such as the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta. The arid zones cover about 10.6% of the land surface. The mean annual rainfall in these areas is up to 200 mm in winter-rainfall areas and less than 400 mm in summer-rainfall areas. Semi-arid zones are more extensive and occur in all the continents and cover up to 15.2% of the land surface.
They have highly seasonal rainfall regimes and a mean annual rainfall of up to 500 mm in winter-rainfall areas and up to 600 mm in summer- rainfall areas. Sub-humid zones cover up to 8.7% of the land surface. The mean annual rainfall in these zones is up to 700 mm in winter-rainfall areas and up to 800 mm in summer-rainfall areas.
According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the drylands are the areas with a length of growing period of 1-179 days; this includes regions classified climatically as arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid. According to FAO classifications, the hyper-arid zones or true deserts, are not included in the drylands and do not have potential for agricultural production, except where irrigation water is available. Drylands have three primary economic functions- as rangelands (65% of the global drylands including deserts); as rain-fed farmland and irrigated farmland (25%); and as forest or sites for towns and cities (10%).
As per the statistics of Indian agriculture, out of the total land area of 329 million hectares (m ha), arable land is spread over 142 m ha. Of this, 92 m ha fall under drylands which produce 44% of the total food grains produced in the country and that feeds 40% of the total population.
The remaining of 50 m ha constituting 35% of irrigated areas account for 60% of the crop production. Major dry farming crops are millets such as jowar (Sorghum vulgare), bajra (Pennisetumtyphoides), ragi (Eleusinecoracana), oilseeds like mustard (Brassica campestris), rapeseed (Brassica napus), and pulse crops like pigeon pea (Cajanuscajan), chickpea (Cicerarientinum) and lentil (Lens esculentum). Almost 80% of maize (Zea mays) and sorghum, 90% of pearlmillet and approximately 95% of pulses and 75% of oilseeds are obtained from dryland agriculture.
In addition to these, 70% of cotton (Gossypiumhirsutum) is produced through dryland agriculture. Drylands also contribute significantly to wheat (Triticumaestivum) and paddy (Oryzasativa) production. Hence, the management of dryland agriculture becomes very much significant.
In India, a total of 128 districts are recognized as dryland farming areas, of these 25 districts covering 18 m ha of net area sown with 10% irrigation receive 375-750 mm rainfall annually spread over Central Rajasthan, Saurashtra region of Gujarat and rain shadow region of Western Ghats in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Twelve districts have irrigation covering 30-50% of the cropped area and do not pose serious problems. The remaining 91 districts covering mainly Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, parts of Haryana, Tamil Nadu etc. represent typical dryland area.
6. Class 10 Notes on Chemical Agriculture:
Chemical agriculture is the use of the land by man to produce food or fibres. Before the land is used by man, it is an ecosystem consisting of populations of producer, consumer and decomposer organisms living together in a particular physical environment. Each population needs to be supplied with a source of energy and nutrients.
There are two important features of such an ecosystem that we should know:
1. First, all these thousands of different kinds of organisms are in populations which are balanced with one another. For example, the population of a leaf-eating insect may not grow to very large numbers because its numbers may be held in check by predators or by internal parasites.
The populations of organisms in an ecosystem do vary of course, but only within limits. For example, if the population of an insect predator increases too much, it will so reduce the numbers of the insect it feeds on that eventually a shortage of food will cause its population to decrease again.
2. There is a flow of nutrients through an ecosystem. They move from the atmosphere and the soil into plants. From there they may move directly to the soil or to animals. From the animals they move through decomposer organisms to the soil again. So the nutrients are constantly cycling through the ecosystem.
When man takes over an area of land and uses it for agriculture, he disturbs the natural ecosystem in these ways:
1. He will first cut down some trees and clear the land for cultivation or pasture.
2. He will put up fences to keep out animals like kangaroos.
3. He may plough up some of the land and plant crops or pasture plants in it.
4. He may introduce new plants and animals to the area.
5. When he sells plant or animal products, he will export some of the nutrients from his farm. He will interrupt the flow of nutrients back to the soil from where they came.
6. But, often more serious than any of these changes, man may bring into an area various chemicals which may have damaging effects on the balance of the many organisms in the ecosystem. The chemicals may become part of the flow of nutrients through the ecosystem.
The ecosystem under man’s management has become an agro-ecosystem.
The reason man uses chemicals in agriculture is that he is always trying to do two things:
1. To use those methods which stimulate his plants and animals to grow to a maximum extent, so that he can make a maximum profit.
2. To use those methods which reduce the effects of pests, parasites or weeds or other organisms which prevent plants and animals from growing at their fastest rate.
In trying to do these things, man has discovered some very powerful tools to help him—agricultural chemicals.
7. Class 10 Notes on Organic Agriculture:
Organic agriculture is a sustainable ecological model of the modern agriculture, adhering to legally defined norms and standards of production, processing and labeling. In organic farming philosophy, biophysical natural production factors are intimately linked to socioeconomic and institutional infrastructures.
The conversion period is the minimum period of time required by the competent authorities in order to impose organic mentality, reasoning and rules of production. It is also the necessary lapse of time needed by farmer in order to adopt organic agriculture practices, techniques and management.
The conversion to organic farming management system brings about significant changes both for the organic farm and for its surrounding community. Those modifications include- composition of inputs and rotation changes affecting yields and yields variability, total production, production cost and the net farm income. Those changes are often influenced by and influence social farm aspects.
Broadly speaking, organic farming yields are lower than those of intensive agriculture and higher than those reached in traditional agriculture. The cost of production is generally higher due to the new investments increasing fixed costs and the high prices of organic inputs (variable costs).
Roughly speaking, the cost of labor is higher in organic farms especially in the case of horticultural production and the quality of work remains a hotly debated issue. But, all the data show that even with the constraints, organic agriculture is always seen as an economically viable, ecologically sound and socially acceptable production system, generating a lot of benefits for the whole society and aiming the agricultural sustainability.
Indian economy is based on agriculture and the rural population is for their livelihood is dependent on agriculture.
Organic systems are based on the optimum use of local resources and technologies. Farmers have greater independence and control over their production. However, more comprehensive monitoring is required to judge their sustainability and impact.
Farmers who have not been exposed to ‘chemical inputs’ are more responsive to organic farming. Farmers are less likely to take up organic farming in situations of high labor cost and labor scarcity. Farmers with relatively mechanized farms and a commitment to high inputs, high output strategies are also likely to adopt.
Studies have shown that organic agriculture is economically viable, that farmers can achieve more income as a result of premiums and as they need fewer inputs.
In India, prices for organic foods reflect many of the same costs as conventional foods in terms of growing, harvesting, transportation and storage. Organically produced foods must meet strict regulations governing all these steps so the process is often more labor and management intensive, and farming tends to be on a smaller scale.
There is also mounting evidence that if all the indirect costs of conventional food production (cleanup of polluted water, replacement of eroded soils, costs of health care for farmers and their workers) were factored into the price of food, organic foods would cost the same, or, more likely be cheaper.
The main aim of organic farming is zero investment by farmer. Of course this is ideal situation, but expenditure on input can be drastically reduced. Improvement in quality is a bonus. Premium prices are important for the financial success of organic farming. The export opportunities offered by the so-called developed world have clearly been a major stimulus in getting organic farming established in many countries.
Farmers are using urea in the farms. Out of total urea applied to field, 40 to 50 % of it is converted into ammonia gas and goes to atmosphere to pollute it. Approximately 20 to 25% of the total is translocated in the deeper layers of soil and pollutes underground water with nitrites. Remaining only 20 to 25 % urea is available to plants.
This way if urea is used to provide N minimum Rs. 49.00 per kg has to be spent. Subsequently, lakhs of rupees would be required to clean up the eco-system. On The other hand only 1 kg of vermi-compost can provide required N and additionally P & K also at a cost of Rs. 25 to 30. There would be no atmospheric pollution.
8. Class 10 Notes on Traditional Agriculture:
Traditional agriculture is an indigenous form of farming, result of the co-evolution of local social and environmental systems and that exhibit a high level of ecological rationale expressed through the intensive use of local knowledge and natural resources, including the management of agro biodiversity in the form of diversified agricultural systems.
The term traditional is usually associated with primitive agricultural systems or pre-industrial peasant agriculture. Traditional farming usually is based on practices that have been passed down for many generations.
Problem of Changing Traditional Agriculture:
The real problem is that although we may need to change, it is hard to actually do it. To try something new is just too hard for some to face. And even if you decide to do something new-say for a current “traditional” family farmer to try alternative crops and direct marketing-it is still very hard to actually do it. It is hard to market yourself and your farm if you have never been a salesman. It is hard to think in terms of square feet when you have been working with hundreds of acres. But usually, if you persevere and work hard, the change will be well worth it.
It is presumed that unless agriculture educated young people are engaged in agriculture with appropriate training and incentive the Indian agriculture will remain traditional. According to Krishi Vigyan Kendra (PIRENS) Babhaleshwar (India) there are 11,900 graduates from agriculture and allied sectors passing out from agricultural universities in India while there are 2405 graduates in agriculture and allied fields passing out every year from Maharashtra state.
However, only 2000 are able to get employment in Government/Private sectors. Thus there remains a vast pool of around 9900 graduates in the country who can support and boost agricultural production process if viable business opportunities are provided to them. On the other hand there exists an agricultural extension system which is fast shrinking resulting in wide extension gaps between those who require improved technologies and those who generate them.
Thus, in the aftermath of this wide extension gap and the vast pool of unemployed agriculture pass outs remains to be tapped to provide support to the extension system and ultimately to help improve agricultural productivity. The traditional agriculture may be transformed to commercial agriculture through agripreneurship development.