AGRICULTURE AND FARMING METHODS

METHODS FOLLOWED:

• IN INDIA
• IN THAILAND
• IN CHINA

IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

farming Systems in India are strategically utilised, according to the locations where they are most suitable. The farming systems that significantly contribute to the agriculture of India are subsistence farming, organic farming, and industrial farming.Regions throughout India differ in types of farming they use; some are based on horticulture, ley farming, agroforestry, and many more.Due to India's geographical location, certain parts experience different climates, thus affecting each region's agricultural productivity differently. India is very dependent on its monsoon cycle for large crop yields.India's agriculture has an extensive background which goes back to at least 10 thousand years. Currently the country holds the second position in agricultural production in the world. In 2007, agriculture and other industries made up more than 16% of India's GDP. Despite the steady decline in agriculture's contribution to the country's GDP, agriculture is the biggest industry in the country and plays a key role in the socioeconomic growth of the country. India is the second biggest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, silk, groundnuts, and dozens more.

SHIFTING CULTIVATION

Shifting cultivation is a type of subsistence farming where a plot of land is cultivated for a few years until the crop yield declines due to soil exhaustion and the effects of pests and weeds. Once crop yield has stagnated, the plot of land is deserted and the ground is cleared by slash and burn methods, allowing the land to replenish. This type of cultivation is predominant in the eastern and north-eastern regions on hill slopes and in forest areas such as Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. Crops such as rain fed rice, corn, buck wheat, small millets, root crops, and vegetables are grown in this system. Eighty-five percent of the total cultivation in northeast India is by shifting cultivation. Due to increasing requirement for cultivation of land, the cycle of cultivation followed by leaving land fallow has reduced from 25–30 years to 2–3 years.

COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

In a commercial based agriculture, crops are raised in large scale plantations or estates and shipped off to other countries for money. These systems are common in sparsely populated areas such as Gujarat,Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra. Wheat, cotton, sugarcane, and corn are all examples of crops grown commercially.

PLANTATION AGRICULTURE

This extensive commercial system is characterized by cultivation of a single cash crop in plantations of estates on a large scale. Because it is a capital centered system, it is important to be technically advanced and have efficient methods of cultivation and tools including fertilizers and irrigation and transport facilities. Examples of this type of farming are the tea plantations in Assam and West Bengal, the coffee plantations in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, and the rubber plantations in Kerala and Maharashtra.

DAIRY FARMING

In 2001 India became the world leader in milk production with a production volume of 84 million tons. India has about three times as many dairy animals as the USA, which produces around 75 million tons. Dairy Farming is generally a type of subsistence farming system in India, especially in Haryana, the major producer of milk in the country. More than 40% of Indian farming households are engaged in milk production because it is a livestock enterprise in which they can engage with relative ease to improve their livelihoods. Regular milk sales allow them to move from subsistence to earning a market-based income. The structure of the livestock industry is globally changing and putting poorer livestock producers in danger because they will be crowded out and left behind. More than 40 million households in India are at least partially dependent on milk production, and developments in the dairy sector will have important repercussions on their livelihoods and on rural poverty levels.