Primitive Subsistence Farming

1 India is an agriculturally important of its population is engaged inagricultural activities. agriculture is a primaryactivity, which produces most of the food thatwe consume. Besides food grains, it alsoproduces raw material for various you name some industries based onagricultural raw material?Moreover, some agricultural products liketea, coffee, spices, etc. are also OF FARMINGA griculture is an age-old economic activity inour country. Over these years, cultivationmethods have changed significantly dependingupon the characteristics of physicalenvironment, technological know-how andsocio-cultural practices.

2 Farming varies fromsubsistence to commercial type. At present, indifferent parts of India, the following farmingsystems are Subsistence FarmingThis type of Farming is still practised in fewpockets of India. Primitive subsistenceagriculture is practised on small patches ofland with the help of Primitive tools like hoe,dao and digging sticks, and family/communitylabour. This type of Farming depends uponmonsoon, natural fertility of the soil andsuitability of other environmental conditionsto the crops is a slash and burn clear a patch of land and producecereals and other food crops to sustain theirfamily.

3 When the soil fertility decreases, thefarmers shift and clear a fresh patch of landfor cultivation. This type of shifting allowsNature to replenish the fertility of the soilthrough natural processes; land productivityin this type of agriculture is low as the farmerdoes not use fertilisers or other moderninputs. It is known by different names indifferent parts of the you name some such types of farmings?It is jhumming in north-eastern states likeAssam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.

4 Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district ofChhattishgarh, and in Andaman and : The slash and burn agricultureis known as Milpa in Mexico and CentralAmerica, Conuco in Venzuela, Roca inBrazil, Masole in Central Africa, Ladang in Indonesia, Ray in India, this Primitive form of cultivationis called Bewar or Dahiya in MadhyaPradesh, Podu or Penda in Andhra Pradesh, Pama Dabi or Koman or Bringa in Odisha, Kumari in Western Ghats, Valre or Waltre in South-eastern Rajasthan, Khil in theHimalayan belt, Kuruwa in Jharkhand.

5 And Jhumming in the North-eastern : Banana plantation in Southernpart of IndiaFig. : Bamboo plantation in North-eastCan you name the type of Farming Rinjha sfamily is engaged in?Can you enlist some crops which are grownin such Farming ?Intensive Subsistence FarmingThis type of Farming is practised in areas ofhigh population pressure on land. It is labour-intensive Farming , where high doses ofbiochemical inputs and irrigation are used forobtaining higher you name some of the states of Indiawhere such Farming is practised?

6 Though the right of inheritance leading tothe division of land among successivegenerations has rendered land-holding sizeuneconomical, the farmers continue to takemaximum output from the limited land in theabsence of alternative source of , there is enormous pressure onagricultural FarmingThe main characteristic of this type of farmingis the use of higher doses of modern inputs, high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemicalfertilisers, insecticides and pesticides in orderto obtain higher productivity.

7 The degree ofcommercialisation of agriculture varies fromone region to another. For example, rice is acommercial crop in Haryana and Punjab, butin Odisha, it is a Subsistence you give some more examples of cropswhich may be commercial in one region andmay provide Subsistence in another region?Plantation is also a type of commercialfarming. In this type of Farming , a single cropis grown on a large area. The plantation hasan interface of agriculture and cover large tracts of land, usingcapital intensive inputs, with the help ofmigrant labourers.

8 All the produce is used asraw material in respective India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane,banana, are important plantation in Assam and North Bengal coffee inRinjha lived with her family in a small villageat the outskirts of Diphu in Assam. She enjoyswatching her family members clearing,slashing and burning a patch of land forcultivation. She often helps them in irrigatingthe fields with water running through abamboo canal from the nearby spring. Sheloves the surroundings and wants to stayhere as long as she can, but this little girlhas no idea about the declining fertility ofthe soil and her family s search for fresh apatch of land in the next are some of the important plantationcrops grown in these states.

9 Since theproduction is mainly for market, a well-developed network of transport andcommunication connecting the plantationareas, processing industries and markets playsan important role in the development INDIA IICROPPING PATTERNYou have studied the physical diversities andplurality of cultures in India. These are alsoreflected in agricultural practices andcropping patterns in the country. Varioustypes of food and fibre crops, vegetables andfruits, spices and condiments, etc.

10 Constitutesome of the important crops grown in thecountry. India has three cropping seasons rabi, kharif and crops are sown in winter from Octoberto December and harvested in summer fromApril to June. Some of the important rabi cropsare wheat, barley, peas, gram and , these crops are grown in large partsof India, states from the north and north-western parts such as Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are importantfor the production of wheat and other rabicrops.