Land Resources and Agriculture

How India uses its land, cropping intensity, the three cropping seasons, dryland and wetland farming, the major crops and states, and the Green Revolution.

Key ideas

Land-use categories include forests, barren land, non-agricultural uses, pastures, tree crops, culturable wasteland, fallows and net sown area.
Current fallow is land left unsown for a year or less; land unsown for more than five years becomes culturable wasteland.
India has three cropping seasons: kharif (with the monsoon), rabi (winter) and zaid (a short summer season on irrigated land).
Dryland farming is where rain is under 75 cm, with hardy crops like ragi and bajra; wetland farming has more rain than crops need and grows rice and jute.
The Green Revolution’s package of HYV seeds, fertilisers and assured irrigation raised foodgrain output fast, first in irrigated areas.
Problems include an erratic monsoon, low yields, small holdings, waterlogging and salinity, and soil erosion.

Remember

Cropping intensity	gross cropped area ÷ net sown area × 100
Land sown more than once	gross cropped area − net sown area
Total cultivable land	net sown area + all fallows + culturable wasteland
Yield	output ÷ area (kg per hectare)
Shares of cropped area	cereals about 54%, rice 25%, wheat 14%, pulses 11%
Leading states	jute: West Bengal; coffee: Karnataka; tea: Assam; soyabean: Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra; jowar: Maharashtra
Seasons	kharif June–September; rabi October–March; zaid April–June

Watch out

Dividing net sown area by gross cropped area (the gross area goes on top, so intensity is 100% or more).
Calling land fallow for three years culturable wasteland (that needs more than five).
Putting wheat in kharif or rice in rabi in north India.

Worked example

Suppose land under non-agricultural uses in a state rose from 16,700 ha to 18,370 ha. What is the actual increase and the rate of increase?

Working: 18,370 − 16,700; ÷ 16,700 × 100

Answer: 1,670 ha; 10%