Agriculture plays the most important role in the Indian economy and it employs nearly 60% of the Indian population. Based on the nature of the land, climatic factors, and irrigation facilities farmers of India are practicing different types of farming. So, here we are going to discuss the types of farming practiced in India and what are the advantages of greenhouse.
Subsistence Farming
This is a small-scale farming practice by the majority of farmers in India. Farmers practicing this farming have small and scattered landholding and they use primitive tools, as they can’t afford modern machinery. They are too poor to use fertilizers and high-yielding seeds. Electricity and other irrigation facilities are also not properly available to them.
Shifting cultivation
This type of farming is done firstly by clearing off the forest land by deforestation and burning of trunks. After clearing the land crops are grown for two to three years and the land is abandoned for some time as the fertility of the soil decreases. They then move to new areas and repeat the same process. This practice is known as Jhum cultivation in Assam, Sonam in Kerala, podu in Andhra Pradesh. So, this is practiced in most parts of India, especially the North-East Region.
Plantation Agriculture
It is farming of bush or tree. It is single-crop farming of tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, coconut, and fruit crops like apples, grapes, oranges, etc. Plantation agriculture is grown within tropical areas and generally for exportation purposes. These plants have a life cycle of more than two years. All the above plants take years to mature.
Intensive Farming
Farming in which farmers use fertilizers and pesticides on a large scale and sow high-yielding varieties of seeds. A highly mechanized system is used in this process. It is also known as industrial agriculture and is characterized by high inputs per unit of land.
Dry Agriculture
It is the practice of farming in an area that receives less annual rainfall. For effective combat with dry land conservation of moisture, soil conservation, and control of input costs are effective measures. The use of farming tools names is highly primitive.
Mixed Agriculture
Cultivation of crops and raising of livestock simultaneously comes under mixed agriculture. This farming is effective in growing two or more crops together also varying maturing periods crops are down at the same time.
Crop Rotation
In this cultivation, different crops are grown one after the other to maintain the fertility of the soil. This rotation may complete in a year or more than one year. The leguminous crop is grown after the cereal crops as legumes can fix nitrogen in the soil. Intensive crops like sugarcane or tobacco rotated with cereal crops. The rotation depends upon local soil conditions.
Terrace Cultivation
These are practiced in hills and mountain slopes. Hills are cut in the form of terraces and land is used as permanent agricultural land. So, with the decline in the availability of flat land, terrace farming provides a good option to cultivate crops. Due to hill slopes, farmers also check the soil erosion.
Extensive Farming
It is a modern system of farms done on a very large scale or farm with extensive use of machines hence also called extensive farming. This involves only one crop a year and labor and per capita hectare of land is less.
Commercial Agriculture
It is a practice to raise crops on large scale primarily to export them to other countries and earn money. This farm is done mostly in scattered populated areas of some states like Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra. Wheat, Cotton, Sugarcane, Cane are some of the commercial crops. So, these are the ways in which we define commercial farming. If you too want to practice any of these farming in India, make sure you know them better.
