04th Sept 2021

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Cropping Pattern in India

Back to Basics: Cropping Pattern mean the proportion of area under different crops at a point of time, changes in this distribution overtime and factors determining these changes.

Cropping pattern in India is determined mainly by rainfall, climate, temperature and soil type.

Technology also plays a pivotal role in determining crop pattern. Example, the adoption of High Yield Varieties Seeds along with fertilisers in the mid 1960’s in the regions of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh increased wheat production significantly.

The multiplicity of cropping systems has been one of the main features of Indian agriculture. This may be attributed to following two major factors:

1. Rainfed agriculture still accounts for over 92.8 million hectares or 65 percent of the cropped area. A large diversity of cropping systems exists under rainfed and dryland areas with an overriding practice of intercropping, due to greater risks involved in cultivating larger area under a particular crop.
2. Due to prevailing socio-economic situations (such as; dependency of large population on agriculture, small land-holding size, very high population pressure on land resource etc.), improving household food security has been an issue of supreme importance to many million farmers of India, who constitute 56.15 million marginal (<1.0 hectare), 17.92 million small (1.0-2.0 hectare) and 13.25 million semi-medium (2.0-4.0 hectare) farm holdings, making together 90 percent of 97.15 million operational holdings.
3. An important consequence of this has been that crop production in India remained to be considered, by and large, a subsistence rather than commercial activity.

What are the types of cropping System?

Different types of cropping systems are adopted on farms depending on the resources and technology available. The different & basic types of cropping System is explained below:

Mono-cropping: If only one crop is grown in the land season after season, it is referred to as Monocropping. Example: Wheat will be planted year after year in the same field. 

Crop Rotation: In this method, the type of crops grown in the field is changed each season or each year. farmers also change from crops to fallow. Example: Maize will be planted in the first year and beans in the second year. This Crop rotation system is a key principle of agriculture conservation as it improves the soil structure and fertility. It also helps to control weeds, pests, and diseases.

Sequential Cropping: This system involves growing two crops in the same field, one after the other in the same year. Example: Planting maize during long rains, then beans during the short rains. 

Inter-cropping: Growing two or more crops in the same field at the same time is called Intercropping. Examples: Planting alternating rows of maize and beans, or growing a cover crop in between the rows. 

Mixed Intercropping: In this method, seeds of two crops are distributed or dibbling the seeds without any row arrangement. This method is called mixed intercropping. This method is easy to sow but makes weeding, fertilization, and harvesting difficult. 

Multiple-Cropping: In this cropping system, farmers grow two or more crops on farmland in one year with intensive input management practices. It includes inter-cropping, mixed-cropping, and sequence cropping.

Row Intercropping: In this method, both the main crop and the intercrop in rows are planted. The row intercropping makes weeding and harvesting easier than with mixed intercropping.

Stir Cropping: This type of cropping involves planting broad strips of several crops in the field. Each strip will be 3–9 m wide. On slopes, the strips are laid out along the contour to prevent erosion. The farmer can rotate crops by planting each strip with a different crop in the next year. Example: Alternating strips of maize, soybean, and finger millet are planted. 

Relay Cropping: In this method, one crop is planted and another crop, usually a cover crop, is planted in the same field before harvesting the first. It avoids competition between the main crop and the intercrop. Relay cropping uses the field for a long time since the cover crop usually continues to grow after the main crop is harvested.

In Indian agriculture, three types of Cropping System is used. They are:

• Mono-Cropping

• Inter-cropping

• Multiple-Cropping

Factors Determining Cropping Pattern in India

Cropping Pattern in India

30 most important cropping patterns in India

Specific Issues Related to the Cropping Pattern

Horticulture Crops in India

India has made a good place for itself on the Horticulture Map of the World with a total annual production of horticultural crops touching over 1490 million tones during 1999-00.

The horticultural crops cover about 9 percent of the total area contributing about 24.5 percent of the gross agricultural output in the country. However, the productivity of fruits and vegetables grown in the country is low as compared to developed countries.

Vegetable Crops

Vegetable crops in India are grown from the sea level to the snowline. The entire country can broadly be divided into six vegetable growing zones:

Low productivity is the main feature of vegetable cultivation in India as farm yields of most of the vegetables in India are much lower than the average yield of the world and developed countries.

The productivity gap is more conspicuous in tomato, cabbage, onion, chilli and peas. The preponderance of hybrid varieties and protected cultivation are mainly responsible for high productivity in the developed countries.

Constraints in vegetable production:

1. Lack of planning in Production

2. Non-availability of seeds of improved varieties.

3. High cost of basic production elements

4. Inadequate plant protection measures and non-availability of resistant varieties.

5. Weak marketing facilities

6. Transportation limits

7. Post-harvest losses

8. Abiotic stresses.

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04 Sept 2021

Ocean Currents are influenced by 2 kinds of forces.

1. Primary or Causation forces – that initiate the movement of water.
2. Secondary forces – that modify the flow of the waters.

Primary forces 

The ocean is driven by the atmosphere above it in 2 ways

1. Wind Stress or Frictional Drag – Friction between wind and oceans creates a frictional drag known as wind stress. It impacts the upper 100m of the ocean surface and sets the water in motion.

2. Insolation – Heating by solar energy. The heating causes water to expand.

>Causes water to expand. In the equatorial regions, the height is 8cm higher. This causes a slight gradient and water tend to flow down the slope.

>Causes precipitation and evaporation which changes the salinity and hence the density of water.

Secondary forces

1. Coriolis Force – The effects of this force has been discussed in atmospheric circulations. It causes winds to deflect toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in curved paths. It has a similar impact on Ocean Currents deflecting them to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.

2. Gravity – Gravity acts on the density difference of water. Density is a function of temperature and salinity and insolation, precipitation and evaporation play an important role.

3. Shape of the ocean basin –

*NCERT somewhat differs in its definition of Primary and Secondary forces, but the above classification is apter.

Types of Ocean Currents

There are 2 types of Ocean Currents

1. Surface Currents also called Wind-Driven Currents 

The Surface Currents are a result of the Wind-stress and are modified by Coriolis force. Hence Surface currents mimic Atmospheric Wind Circulations. The diagram below shows how Easterlies are in line with the equatorial current, the Westerlies are in line with Kuroshio and Gulf Stream.

Ocean currents are constrained by the continental masses that border the three major oceans. This causes slight variations in their movement.

To understand the mechanism, we touch upon few concepts.

Ekman Spiral

Ekman Spiral is the result of Coriolis force on the movement of surface water. The wind stress moves the uppermost layer of water. This layer, in turn, drags the layer below it. Each deeper layer moves more slowly than the layer above it until the movement ceases at a depth of about 100 meters.

All layers of water are deflected by Coriolis force to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, each successive layer moves 45 deg. to the direction of drag force being applied. The diagram below captures this aptly. This creates a twisting effect creating the spiral. The spiral is known as Ekman Spiral and each subsequent layer is called the Ekman Layer.

The average movement of all the layers comes out to be 90 deg to the direction of the surface wind.

Gyres

Ekman Spiral gives rise to ‘Gyres’. These are ocean-circling currents that occur north and south of the equator. They do not occur at the equator, where the Coriolis effect is not present. There are five in all: two in the Pacific – north, and south of the equator, two in the Atlantic, and one in the Indian Ocean, south of the equator. In the northern Indian Ocean, the landmasses of Asia prevent the formation of a full gyre. Instead, there is a seasonally reversible current, driven by the Monsoon winds.

Surface ocean currents are further divided into warm and cold currents

2. Deep-water Currents also called Thermohaline Currents –

While wind effects drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean’s surface, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface. These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water’s density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation.

Cold, salty water is dense and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, and eventually returns to the surface through mixing. On a global scale, this sinking and rising of ocean water create what scientists call the ‘great ocean conveyor belt.’

Case Study: The Gulf Stream

Gulf Stream is where you don’t see a clear-cut distinction between the Wind-Driven and Thermohaline. The first part of the Gulf Stream that represents the warm waters to a certain extent are Wind Driven

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