Agriculture · Class 10 Geography: 100 flashcards
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1. What share of India's population is engaged in agricultural activities?
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Two-thirds.
2. Give three reasons agriculture is important to India.
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It produces most of the food we consume, it supplies raw material for various industries, and some of its products, such as tea, coffee and spices, are exported.
3. What three factors have changed cultivation methods over time?
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The physical environment, technological know-how and socio-cultural practices.
4. Which tools are used in primitive subsistence farming?
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Primitive tools such as the hoe, dao and digging sticks.
5. On what does primitive subsistence farming depend?
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On the monsoon, the natural fertility of the soil and the suitability of other environmental conditions.
6. Explain slash and burn agriculture.
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Farmers clear a patch of land and grow cereals and other food crops to sustain the family; when the soil's fertility decreases, they shift and clear a fresh patch.
7. How does shifting help the soil?
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It gives nature time to build the soil’s fertility back up by itself.
8. Why is land productivity low in slash and burn farming?
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Because the farmer does not use fertilisers or other modern inputs.
9. What is slash and burn called in the north-eastern states, in Manipur and in Bastar?
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Jhumming in the north-eastern states, Pamlou in Manipur, and Dipa in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.
10. What are the names for slash and burn in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh?
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Bewar or Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh; Podu or Penda in Andhra Pradesh.
11. Give any three names for slash and burn outside India.
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Any three of Milpa in Mexico and Central America, Conuco in Venezuela, Roca in Brazil, Masole in Central Africa, Ladang in Indonesia and Ray in Vietnam.
12. Where is intensive subsistence farming practised?
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In areas of high population pressure on land.
13. What inputs does intensive subsistence farming use?
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It is labour-intensive and uses high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation.
14. How has the right of inheritance affected land holdings?
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By dividing land among successive generations, it has rendered land-holding size uneconomical.
15. Why do farmers keep farming uneconomical holdings intensively?
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Because there is no alternative source of livelihood, so they take maximum output from the limited land.
16. What is the main characteristic of commercial farming?
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The use of higher doses of modern inputs — HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides — to obtain higher productivity.
17. Give the chapter's example of a crop that is commercial in one region and subsistence in another.
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Rice, which is a commercial crop in Haryana and Punjab but a subsistence crop in Odisha.
18. What is plantation farming?
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A type of commercial farming in which a single crop is grown on a large area, with an interface of agriculture and industry.
19. Name the important plantation crops of India.
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Tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane and banana.
20. Why does a plantation need a good transport and communication network?
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Because production is mainly for the market, so the plantations must be connected to processing industries and markets.
21. Name India's three cropping seasons.
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Rabi, kharif and zaid.
22. When are rabi crops sown and harvested?
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Into the ground over the winter months of October to December, and off it over the summer months of April to June.
23. Name the important rabi crops.
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Wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.
24. Which states are important for wheat and other rabi crops?
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Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
25. What two factors help rabi crops succeed in the north-west?
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Winter precipitation from western temperate cyclones, and how well the green revolution worked across Punjab, Haryana, parts of Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.
26. When are kharif crops sown and harvested?
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Grown with the onset of monsoon, and harvested in September-October.
27. Name any six kharif crops.
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Pick six from: paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, the pulses tur (arhar), moong and urad, and then cotton, jute, groundnut, soyabean.
28. Name the most important rice-growing regions.
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Assam and West Bengal, coastal Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and Maharashtra — the Konkan coast especially — plus Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
29. Which two north-western states have recently taken to paddy?
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Punjab and Haryana.
30. What are Aus, Aman and Boro?
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The three crops of paddy grown in a year in Assam, West Bengal and Odisha.
31. What is the zaid season?
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A short season during the summer months, between the rabi and kharif seasons.
32. Name the zaid crops.
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Watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.
33. Which one of rice, gram, millets and cotton is a rabi crop?
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Gram.
34. Why does sugarcane not belong to one season?
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Because it takes almost a year to grow.
35. In which season is maize grown?
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It is a kharif crop, but in states like Bihar it is grown in the rabi season as well.
36. How does sesamum change season across India?
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It is a kharif crop in the north and a rabi crop in the south.
37. In which season is castor seed grown?
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Both as rabi and as kharif.
38. Sort these pulses by season: tur, gram, moong, peas, urad.
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Kharif: tur, moong and urad. Rabi: gram and peas.
39. What do the chapter's cropping patterns reflect?
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India's physical diversities and plurality of cultures.
40. Which two oilseeds are rabi crops, and which is kharif?
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Linseed and mustard are rabi crops; groundnut is a kharif crop.
41. Why is rice so important in India, and where does India rank in its production?
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Most Indians eat it as their staple, and only China grows more of it than India does.
42. Describe the geographical conditions required for the growth of rice.
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High temperature above 25°C, high humidity and annual rainfall above 100 cm; in areas of less rainfall it grows with the help of irrigation.
43. Where is rice grown in India?
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In the plains of north and north-eastern India, the coastal areas and the deltaic regions, and with irrigation in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.
44. How has rice come to be grown in areas of less rainfall?
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Through the development of a dense network of canal irrigation and tube-wells.
45. Describe the geographical conditions required for wheat.
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A cool growing season, bright sunshine at the time of ripening, and between 50 and 75 cm of rain a year, spread evenly through the growing period.
46. Name the two important wheat-growing zones.
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The Ganga-Satluj plains in the north-west and the black soil region of the Deccan.
47. Name the major wheat-producing states.
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Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.
48. Why are millets called coarse grains, and why is the name misleading?
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Jowar, bajra and ragi are known as coarse grains, but they have very high nutritional value; ragi is packed with iron and calcium, with other micronutrients and plenty of roughage.
49. What is the rank of jowar among food crops, and what are its growing conditions?
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It is the third most important food crop by area and production; it is rain-fed, grown mostly in moist areas, and hardly needs irrigation.
50. Name the major jowar-producing states.
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Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
51. On what soils does bajra grow well, and where?
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On sandy soils and shallow black soil; the major states are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.
52. Describe ragi's growing conditions and name two major states.
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Ragi is a crop of dry regions growing well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils; major states include Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
53. Describe the conditions for maize.
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It is a kharif crop needing a temperature between 21°C and 27°C, growing well in old alluvial soil; in Bihar it is also grown in the rabi season.
54. What has increased the production of maize?
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Putting modern inputs to work — HYV seeds, fertiliser and irrigation.
55. What is India's position in pulses?
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It is the largest producer as well as the largest consumer of pulses in the world.
56. Why are pulses important in a vegetarian diet?
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They are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.
57. Why are pulses grown in rotation with other crops?
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Being leguminous, all of them except arhar fix nitrogen from the air and restore soil fertility.
58. Which one of pulses, jowar, millets and sesamum is a leguminous crop?
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Pulses.
59. Which areas does the chapter's map shade as major areas of rice?
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The middle and lower Ganga plains, the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, Odisha, and the eastern coastal plains and deltas southwards into Tamil Nadu.
60. Which areas does the chapter's map shade as major areas of wheat?
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Punjab, Haryana, western and central Uttar Pradesh, north-eastern Rajasthan, and a large part of northern and western Madhya Pradesh.
61. Describe the geographical conditions required for sugarcane.
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A hot, humid climate of 21°C to 27°C, together with annual rainfall between 75 and 100 cm, with irrigation where rainfall is low; it grows on a variety of soils and needs hand labour from planting to harvest.
62. Where does India rank in sugarcane, and what is it the source of?
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India is the second largest producer after Brazil; sugarcane is the main source of sugar, gur (jaggery), khandsari and molasses.
63. Name the major sugarcane-producing states.
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Nine states grow it: Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
64. What share of cropped area do oilseeds cover, and what are they used for?
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About 12 per cent; most are edible and used as cooking mediums, while some are raw material for soap, cosmetics and ointments.
65. Which state was the largest producer of groundnut in 2019-20?
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Gujarat, followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
66. Take one major beverage crop: what geographical conditions does it need?
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Tea: tropical and sub-tropical climates, deep, fertile soil that drains well and is full of humus and organic matter, a warm and moist frost-free climate all through the year, and regular showers spread across the year.
67. Why is tea described as a labour-intensive industry?
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Because it requires abundant, cheap and skilled labour.
68. Name the major tea-producing states.
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Assam, the hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; also Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura.
69. Where did India's Arabica coffee come from, and where is it grown today?
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It was brought from Yemen, first grown on the Baba Budan Hills, and is now confined to the Nilgiri hills in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
70. Where does India rank in fruits and vegetables?
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It was the second largest producer in the world after China in 2020.
71. Where are oranges and pineapples grown, according to the chapter?
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Oranges in Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya); pineapples in Meghalaya.
72. Describe the conditions required for rubber.
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Damp, humid air, over 200 cm of rain in the year, and temperatures staying above 25°C.
73. Where is rubber mainly grown?
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Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, the Andaman and Nicobar islands and the Garo hills of Meghalaya.
74. Name the four major fibre crops.
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Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk.
75. What is sericulture?
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The rearing of silkworms for the production of silk fibre; the silkworms are fed on green leaves, specially mulberry.
76. Describe the conditions required for cotton.
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The drier stretches of the Deccan plateau's black cotton soil, heat, light rain or irrigation, 210 days free of frost and bright sunshine; it is a kharif crop taking 6 to 8 months to mature.
77. Name the major cotton-producing states.
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Ten in all — Maharashtra and Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh.
78. Why is jute called the golden fibre, and where does it grow?
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It is known as the golden fibre; it grows on fertile, well-drained flood-plain soils that fresh silt renews each year, with high temperature during growth.
79. Name the major jute-producing states and its uses.
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West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya; it is used for gunny bags, mats, ropes, yarn, carpets and other artefacts.
80. Does the book name the largest producer state of tea, cotton or jute?
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No. It lists major producing states without ranking them; the only state-level 'largest producer' in the chapter is Gujarat for groundnut in 2019-20.
81. Why did Indian agriculture need reform?
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Sustained use of land without compatible techno-institutional changes hindered development; despite irrigation, most farmers still depended on the monsoon and natural fertility, a serious challenge for a growing population.
82. What share of the population depends on agriculture for a livelihood, according to this section?
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More than 60 per cent.
83. Name the institutional reforms given priority after Independence.
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Collectivisation, consolidation of holdings, cooperation and abolition of zamindari.
84. What was the main focus of the First Five Year Plan?
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Land reform.
85. Why was consolidation of holdings necessary?
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Because the right of inheritance had already led to the fragmentation of land holdings.
86. Why did land reform fall short?
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The laws were enacted, but implementation was lacking or lukewarm.
87. Name the two strategies introduced in the 1960s and 1970s.
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The Green Revolution, based on package technology, and the White Revolution (Operation Flood).
88. What is the White Revolution also called?
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Operation Flood.
89. What limitation of the Green and White Revolutions does the chapter note?
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They led to the concentration of development in a few selected areas.
90. What was initiated in the 1980s and 1990s?
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A comprehensive land development programme including both institutional and technical reforms.
91. Against which risks was crop insurance provided?
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Drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.
92. Which institutions were set up to lend to farmers at lower interest?
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Grameen banks, cooperative societies and banks.
93. Name two schemes introduced by the government for farmers.
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The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and the Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS).
94. How were farmers helped through radio and television?
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Through special weather bulletins and agricultural programmes.
95. Why does the government announce minimum support prices?
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To check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen, along with remunerative and procurement prices for important crops.
96. Who declared Vinoba Bhave his spiritual heir?
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Mahatma Gandhi.
97. Where did the Bhoodan movement begin, and how?
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At Pochampally in Telangana, when Shri Ram Chandra Reddy offered 80 acres of land to be distributed among 80 landless villagers.
98. What is the difference between Bhoodan and Gramdan?
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Bhoodan was the gift of land for the landless; Gramdan was the gift of whole villages by zamindars for distribution among the landless.
99. Why did many land-owners give part of their land, according to the chapter?
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Due to fear of the land ceiling act.
100. By what other name is the Bhoodan-Gramdan movement known?
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The Blood-less Revolution.
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