Indian Agriculture – Key Vocabulary

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering farming types, cropping seasons, major crops, fibre and plantation crops, and key agricultural reforms in India.

Agriculture (India)

Primary economic activity engaging about two-thirds of the population; supplies food, industrial raw materials and export commodities like tea and spices.

Primitive Subsistence Farming

Age-old, small-patch cultivation using primitive tools and family labour; depends on monsoon and natural soil fertility; productivity low and no modern inputs.

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture (Jhumming)

Farmers clear, burn and cultivate a patch, then shift when fertility declines; called Jhumming in NE India, Milpa in Mexico, Ladang in Indonesia, etc.

Intensive Subsistence Farming

Labour-intensive farming in densely populated areas using high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation to extract maximum yield from small holdings.

Commercial Farming

Market-oriented agriculture using HYV seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and mechanisation; degree of commercialisation varies regionally.

Plantation Agriculture

Large-scale, capital-intensive single-crop estates (tea, coffee, rubber, banana) that integrate cultivation with on-site processing and depend on migrant labour.

Rabi Season

Winter sowing (Oct–Dec) and summer harvesting (Apr–Jun); key crops: wheat, barley, peas, gram, mustard.

Kharif Season

Monsoon sowing and autumn harvesting (Sept–Oct); crops include paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, cotton, jute, groundnut, soyabean.

Zaid Season

Short summer cropping period between rabi and kharif; crops such as watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder.

Rice

Staple kharif cereal needing >25 °C, high humidity and >100 cm rainfall; grown widely, with irrigation enabling expansion into Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Wheat

Second major cereal, a rabi crop requiring cool growing season, bright sunshine at ripening and 50–75 cm evenly distributed rain; major in Punjab, Haryana, UP.

Millets

Coarse grains with high nutrition (jowar, bajra, ragi) tolerant of poor soils and drought.

Jowar

Rain-fed millet grown in moist areas; leading states: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh.

Bajra

Millet thriving on sandy and shallow black soils; top producers: Rajasthan, UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana.

Ragi

Iron- and calcium-rich millet for dry regions; grows on red, black and loamy soils; chief states: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh.

Maize

Food and fodder kharif crop (21–27 °C) suited to old alluvium; also grown in rabi in Bihar; major states: Karnataka, MP, UP, Bihar, AP, Telangana.

Pulses

Protein-rich leguminous crops (tur, urad, moong, masur, peas, gram) that fix nitrogen; India is largest producer and consumer.

Sugarcane

Tropical/sub-tropical cash crop needing 21–27 °C and 75–100 cm rain (irrigation where low); raw material for sugar, gur and molasses.

Oilseeds

Crops yielding edible and industrial oils; occupy ~12 % of cropped area; include groundnut, mustard, soyabean, sesamum, sunflower, castor, linseed.

Groundnut

Major kharif oilseed accounting for about half of oilseed output; leading producers: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu.

Tea

Labour-intensive plantation beverage preferring warm, moist, frost-free climate and well-drained humus-rich soils; major in Assam, North Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala.

Coffee (Arabica)

High-quality beverage crop first grown on Baba Budan Hills; now confined to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu; India known for mild Arabica.

Horticulture

Cultivation of fruits and vegetables; India ranks second globally producing mango, banana, citrus, grapes, apple, potato, etc.

Rubber

Equatorial industrial crop needing >25 °C and >200 cm rain; grown mainly in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Cotton

Kharif fibre grown on black soils of Deccan; needs high temperature, light rain, 210 frost-free days; major in Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP, Karnataka, Punjab.

Jute

‘Golden fibre’ grown on fertile flood-plain soils with high temperature; used for gunny bags, carpets; leading states: West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha.

Sericulture

Rearing silkworms on mulberry leaves to produce natural silk fibre.

High-Yielding Variety (HYV) Seeds

Genetically improved seeds central to Green Revolution, offering higher productivity when combined with fertilisers and irrigation.

Green Revolution

1960s package-technology programme introducing HYV seeds, fertilisers and irrigation, boosting cereal production but regionally concentrated.

White Revolution (Operation Flood)

1970s national dairy development programme increasing milk production through cooperative networks.

Land Reforms

Post-independence measures like abolition of zamindari, consolidation of holdings and tenancy regulation to improve agrarian structure.

Bhoodan–Gramdan Movement

Vinoba Bhave’s ‘blood-less revolution’ encouraging landowners to voluntarily donate land or whole villages to landless farmers.

Kisan Credit Card (KCC)

Government scheme providing farmers with easy, revolving credit for cultivation and contingencies at low interest.

Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS)

Insurance programme offering compensation to farmers for death or disability due to accidents.

Western Temperate Cyclones

Winter storms bringing rainfall to north-west India, beneficial for rabi crops like wheat and mustard.

Aus, Aman, Boro

Three seasonal crops of paddy grown annually in Assam, West Bengal and Odisha.

Canal & Tubewell Irrigation

Artificial watering systems enabling rice cultivation in low-rainfall areas such as Punjab, Haryana and western UP.