Agriculture and Cropping Patterns in India

Vocabulary flashcards covering agricultural practices, types of farming, cropping seasons, major crops, and regional terminology based on the provided lecture notes.

Rabi Crops

Crops sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June, including wheat, barley, peas, gram, and mustard.

Kharif Crops

Crops grown with the onset of monsoon in different parts of India and harvested in September-October, including paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut, and soyabean.

Zaid Season

A short cropping season during the summer months between the rabi and kharif seasons (sown in April-May), producing crops such as watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables, and fodder crops.

Aus, Aman and Boro

The three crops of paddy (rice) grown in a single year in states like Assam, West Bengal, and Odisha.

Rice

The staple food crop of a majority of people in India, requiring high temperatures above $25^\text{o}\text{C}$, high humidity, and annual rainfall above $100\text{ cm}$.

Wheat

The second most important cereal crop in India, requiring a cool growing season, bright sunshine at ripening, and $50\text{ cm}$ to $75\text{ cm}$ of annual rainfall evenly distributed over the growing season.

Millets

Coarse grains grown in India that possess very high nutritional value, primarily including jowar, bajra, and ragi.

Jowar

The third most important food crop with respect to area and production in India, which is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in moist areas that hardly needs irrigation.

Ragi

A millet crop of dry regions that grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy, and shallow black soils, and is very rich in iron, calcium, other micro-nutrients, and roughage.

Bajra

A millet crop that grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil, with major producing states being Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Haryana.

Maize

A crop used for both food and fodder that is primarily a kharif crop requiring temperatures between $21^\text{o}\text{C}$ to $27^\text{o}\text{C}$ and growing well in old alluvial soil.

Pulses

Leguminous crops (except arhar) that help in restoring soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air, serving as the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.

Sugarcane

A tropical as well as subtropical crop that grows well in hot and humid climates with temperatures of $21^\text{o}\text{C}$ to $27^\text{o}\text{C}$ and annual rainfall between $75\text{ cm}$ and $100\text{ cm}$.

Oil Seeds

Crops covering approximately $12\%$ of the total cropped area of India in $2020$, used as edible cooking mediums and as raw materials in manufacturing soap, cosmetics, and ointments.

Groundnut

A kharif crop accounting for about half of the major oilseeds produced in India, with Gujarat being its largest producing state in $2019\text{-}20$.

Tea

An important beverage crop cultivated through plantation agriculture, introduced initially by the British, which grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates with deep, fertile, well-drained soil rich in humus and organic matter.

Primitive Subsistence Farming

A type of farming practised on small patches of land using primitive tools like hoe, dao, and digging sticks, along with family or community labour, relying on monsoon and natural soil fertility.

Slash and Burn Agriculture

A shifting cultivation method where farmers clear and burn a patch of land to produce food crops, moving to a fresh patch once soil fertility decreases to allow natural replenishment of soil fertility.

Jhumming

The local name for slash and burn agriculture in the North-eastern states of India, including Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland.

Pamlou

The local name for slash and burn agriculture practised in Manipur.

Dipa

The local name for slash and burn agriculture in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh and in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Milpa

The name for slash and burn agriculture in Mexico and Central America.

Conuco

The name for slash and burn agriculture in Venezuela.

Roca

The name for slash and burn agriculture in Brazil.

Masole

The name for slash and burn agriculture in Central Africa.

Ladang

The name for slash and burn agriculture in Indonesia.

Ray

The name for slash and burn agriculture in Vietnam.

Bewar or Dahiya

The local name for primitive slash and burn cultivation in Madhya Pradesh.

Podu or Penda

The local name for primitive slash and burn cultivation in Andhra Pradesh.

Pama Dabi, Koman, or Bringa

The local names for primitive slash and burn cultivation in Odisha.

Kumari

The local name for primitive slash and burn cultivation in the Western Ghats.

Valre or Waltre

The local name for primitive slash and burn cultivation in South-eastern Rajasthan.

Khil

The local name for primitive slash and burn cultivation in the Himalayan belt.

Kuruwa

The local name for primitive slash and burn cultivation in Jharkhand.

Intensive Subsistence Farming

A labour-intensive farming system practised in areas of high population pressure on land, using high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation to obtain higher production.

Right of Inheritance

A legal land transfer to successive generations leading to the division of land holdings, rendering land-holding size small and uneconomical.

Commercial Farming

Farming characterized by the use of higher doses of modern inputs (such as HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides, and pesticides) to achieve higher productivity for market sales.

Plantation Farming

A type of commercial farming where a single crop is grown on a large area using capital-intensive inputs and migrant labour, serving as an interface between agriculture and industry.