Major crops, cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

GS 3 (General Studies 3)

Major crops, cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mazor Crops and their Cropping pattern.

▼Cropping pattern depends on Physical diversities(Like climate, soil, water etc) ,Economic and Socio-Cultural factors.
Cropping pattern depends on many Factors:
>Soil
>Landholding
>Climate
>Monsoon
>Gov policy like APMC reforms, MSP, Crop insurance.
>Technology like HYV seeds(Green revolution)

Prerequisite:
=86% Farmers have less then 1 hactare of land holding(10^th Agri Census 2015-16)
=60% are Rainfed agri land.
=About 60% of population is engaged in it.
=16% of Indian land -----Agri----contributes 17% of GDP.
=Agri contributes 15% to indian Export earning.

MAZOR CROPS:
Rice:
→Kharif crop
→High (Temp+Humidity+ Rainfall 100+cm)
→Water retention type soil(Clayey soil)…ex-Aluvial soil
→Gov policy=MSP favours paddy.
→Tech= water pump

→Climate Change=Erratic monsoon
→Manpower=Transplantation requires……urban opportunity devoids labor.

→Diff pattern used
 Rice-Rice-Rice
=3 rice in a year
=if water is adequate
=Canal irrigated area of Tamil Nadu.

Rice-Rice-Cereal
=two rice followed by Cereals
=if water is not adequate….temp can be used to grow cereals like Maize and Millets(Ragi, Jowar etc)

Rice-Groundnut
=States like Andhra Pradesh, T.N, Kerela…Groundnut is grown after harvesting rice.

Rice-Fish
=Eastern part of India….Farmers are marginal and poor hence low productivity.
=Areas with Clayey soil(Water retention) + free from fear of flood+ sufficient water.



Wheat:
→Rabi crop
→Moderte (temperature + Rainfall 75-cm) + sunny harvesting period
→Well drained soil….ex- Loamy soil
→MSP support
=only 12% of farmers availed MSP rest sailed in mandi.
=About 41% sailed at below MSP.

→Crop insurance

→grown in winter specially in western india(Westen Temperate Cyclon)
→Climate change=Temp ↑ in tropic decreases productivity after a prticular value.
→Wheat growing are shown below ↓

IMAGE

 

Sugarcane:
→Hot + Humid climate + rainfall 75 to 100cm.
→UP+Maharashtra+TN+Andhra pradesh+Bihar +Punjab+Haryana

Millet:
→kharif crop
→Low to high (rainfall + Temp)
→Less fertile to sandy (can obviously grow even in fertile ).


Maize:
→Kharif Crop
→Moderate (Temp+ rian)+ lots of sunshine.
→Well drained fertile soil.

Coffee:
→Rabi crops crop ………….confusion with warm
→Warm and Wet climate
→Loamy soil + hill slope


Tea:
→Kharif crop………….confusion with cold
→Cooler and wet climate
→Loamy soil +Hill slope

NON FOOD CROPS

Rubber:
→Equatorial crop (grown in india in few places)
→Kerla + TN +Karnatka+ Andaman & Nicobar+Garo hills
→High (Temp + Rain 200+ Cm)

Jute:
→Kharif Crop
→AKA Golden Fibre.
→Like rice= High(Temp+rian+humidity)
→alluvial soil
→Due to high cost it is loosing to synthetic fibre.

Cotton:
→Kharif crops.
→high temp + light rain + 210 frost free days.
→Black and alluvial soil.

 

==========Tech and istitutional reform============
>Krishi Dashan on DD1
>Kishan Credit card
>PMFBY
>Soil health card
>HYV + Hybrid + GMO(cotton)
>Model Contract farming
>eNAM

 

 

 

DIFFERENT TYPES OF IRRIGATION: Wells:

• Irrigation by wells is present in India from the time immemorial.
• In 1950-51, there were around five million wells and now, their number has been increased to about 12 million.
• Uttar Pradesh has the largest area of land under good irrigation, followed by Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Karnataka.

Tube wells:

• Tube wells are deeper well from which water is lifted through pumping set operated by an electric motor or a diesel engine.
• Tamil Nadu with around 11 lakh tube wells has the largest number in the country followed by Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, and Haryana.

Tanks:

• They are commonly used in Andhra Pradesh, Deccan Plateau, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
• Irrigation through tanks offers a host of benefits such as providing drinking water for rural communities and livestock, replenishing groundwater levels, conserving top-soil and others.
• Since Independence, tank water irrigation has declined in the country due to various reasons.

Canals:

• In India, canals are the main source of irrigation. Canals are big water sources or channels derived from rivers to provide water to places far away from the river. They are of two types:
• Inundation canals: Canals taken out from rivers without any regulating system
• Perennial canals: Canals taking off from perennial rivers with a weir system to regulate the flow of water

CHOOSING A SMART WAY: Smart irrigation systems such as drip, sprinklers and efficient water management should be made a priority and allocated across the country where needed.

• Drip irrigation: In this type of irrigation, a precise amount of water is applied in the form of water droplets at frequent intervals through perforations in plastic pipes or through nozzles attached to tubes. This form is ideally suited for horticulture crops such as amla, grapes, coconut, mango, banana, guava, pomegranate and cash crops such as sugarcane.

Advantages:

• Huge water financial savings
• No evaporation, no wastage of water plus energy saving
• Less dependency on weather
• 100% usage of land as it irrigates uniformly in any topography
• Sprinklers: These are small plastic sprinklers, which rotate with water pressure and sprinkle the water in the field.

Advantages:

• Uniform water distribution leading to high efficiency
• No need for expansive land leveling
• Easy application
• Possibility of making use of a minute amount of water for germination
• Sub-surface irrigation: In this method, a community of polyethylene pipes is positioned just beneath the floor’s surface to use disinfected effluent inside the root area of plants, preventing airborne drift and declining runoff.

Advantages:

• Declines soil compaction
• Capability to lessen the prevalence of soil-borne illnesses
• assist manipulate weed infestation
• Good life expectancy of the system.

THE CURRENT CHALLENGES:

• Natural Resources Degradation: Degradation of natural resources is emerging a global threat. The problem of land degradation in the rainfed or dry-land areas is expected to proceed at more than twice the rate.
• Decrease in per capita Arable Land Area: The prime agricultural land in the country is being converted to industrial, urban, recreational and other non-agricultural uses.
• Solution: In view of the shrinking arable land resource, identifying and implementing strategies of restoration of degraded soils and intensification of existing prime agricultural land is important.
• Lack of irrigation: Agriculture is subject to the vagaries of monsoon in the country. As per World Bank, only 35% of India’s agricultural land is irrigated (artificial application of water to land or soil). The remaining 65% of farming is rain-dependent, most of which takes place over just a few summer months.
• Solution: New technology and better farm management can be deployed to improve irrigation systems.
• Overexploitation of groundwater: Another major issue is overexploitation of groundwater, which is a major concern in states of Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, etc. Alarmingly, the groundwater level has been going down in almost all parts of the country.
• Currently, India is the largest user of groundwater in the world, extracting groundwater to the tune of 253 cm per year, about 25% of the global groundwater extraction.
• Solution: Watershed management can be a useful technology for effectively recharging the groundwater by water and soil conservation methods.
• Droughts: Droughts connotes a situation of water shortage for human and agricultural consumption, which results in economic losses.
• Solution: The situation calls for evolving an overall policy framework that can provide adequate incentive and opportunities for soil and moisture conservation.
• Desertification: Increasing desertification of India's soil, is a fundamental threat to every activity of agriculture.
• Solution: The government needs to formulate an appropriate strategy for desertification control and involve natural resource planning at the watershed level through a watershed management program. India is committed to combat desertification and land degradation and the country intends to achieve land degradation neutral status by the year 2030.
• Deforestation: The global annual rate of deforestation is estimated at 12.37 Mha or 0.82%/yr. India has 24 percent of land under forest as against the desired 33 % of National Forest Policy of 1988. A large part of these forests is degraded and productivity is very poor.
• Solution: In the case of deforestation, watershed management can help in planning for judicious management of forest ecosystems, and in the restoration of degraded soils.

Per capita Water Availability	Status
< 1700 cubic meters	Water stress
< 1000 cubic meters	Water scarcity
< 500 cubic meters	Absolute scarcity

• Water Scarcity: Water crisis is usually viewed in terms of an increasing imbalance between water supply and demand.
• At present, India is suffering from "the worst water crisis in its history", placing millions of lives and livelihoods under threat.
• According to the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas released by the World Resources Institute (WRI), India is at 13^th position among the world's 17 ‘extremely water-stressed’ countries.
• A region is said to be under ‘water stress’ when the demand for water exceeds the available volume or when poor quality restricts use.
• Solution: Watershed based management practices can effectively address the problem of water scarcity to a major extent.

GOVERNMENT MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana:

• Launched in 2015 with the motto of “Har Khet Ko Paani”, the scheme aims to provide end-to-end solutions in the irrigation supply chain (water sources, distribution network and, farm-level applications).
• The scheme focuses on creating sources for assured irrigation and protective irrigation by harnessing rainwater at micro level through ‘Jal Sanchay’ and ‘Jal Sinchan’.
• One of the most crucial components of the initiative is “Per Drop More Crop”. It focuses on micro-irrigation systems (sprinkler, drip, pivots, rain-guns, etc.) to promote precision farming by making water available in a targeted manner to the root zone of crops.

Micro Irrigation Fund:

• The Government has created a dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund with NABARD.
• This fund aims to facilitate the States in order to mobilize the resources for expanding coverage of Micro Irrigation in the country.

Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP):

• Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP) is an initiative which aims to increase agricultural productivity of rainfed areas in a sustainable manner by adopting appropriate farming system-based approaches.

JAL SHAKTI MINISTRY: Recently, the government created the Jal Shakti Ministry s to provide access to safe drinking water by reorganizing the earlier ministries:

• Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation
• Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
• The Ministry will focus on ensuring clean water for people and irrigation water facilities for farmers in the country.

Considering the rising water scarcity and depleting groundwater resources, there is a significant need for an appropriate irrigation system. Though the government has started various policies and programs to improve irrigation, more innovative policies are needed to be tailored to directly improve efficiency, boost productivity and minimize the environmental impact on farming. Everything said and done, the ultimate success of agriculture in any country of the world entirely depends on appropriate irrigation structure.