Agriculture in India (Video) - Key Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on Agriculture in India.

Primary activity

The backbone of India's economy; the sector dealing with natural resources, especially agriculture, that sustains livelihoods and food security.

Primitive Subsistence Farming

Subsistence farming on small patches with primitive tools, heavily dependent on monsoon and soil fertility; involves shifting cultivation (Jhumming).

Intensive Subsistence Farming

Labor-intensive farming in densely populated areas using irrigation and biochemical inputs; land is often divided into small, uneconomical holdings.

Commercial Farming

Agriculture using HYV seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery; includes plantation farming; requires good transport; crops include tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, banana.

Rabi crops

Winter crops grown Oct–Dec and harvested Apr–Jun; examples include wheat, barley, peas, gram, mustard.

Kharif crops

Monsoon crops grown Jun–Jul and harvested Sep–Oct; examples include paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, pulses, cotton, jute, groundnut, soybean.

Zaid crops

Summer crops of short duration; examples include watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, fodder; sugarcane takes nearly a year.

Rice

Staple food; India is the second-largest producer after China; needs >25°C and >100 cm rainfall; irrigation in dry areas.

Wheat

Second cereal crop; grown in the Rabi season; requires cool growing season and 50–75 cm rainfall.

Millets

Coarse grains (jowar, bajra, ragi) that are nutritious; jowar is rain-fed, bajra on sandy soil, ragi rich in iron & calcium.

Tea

Beverage crop introduced by the British; needs humid, frost-free climate; India is the second-largest producer after China; labour-intensive.

Cotton

Fibre crop; India’s original home; second-largest producer after China; requires black soil, high temperature, and about 210 frost-free days.

Jute

Golden fibre; grows in floodplain soil and high temperatures; used for gunny bags, mats, carpets.

Silk

Fiber produced by silkworms; non-food crop.

MSP (Minimum Support Price)

Government price support to farmers to protect from middlemen and price fluctuations.