NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Geography India: People and Economy Chapter 3: Land Resources and Agriculture

Chapter at a glance

Exercise Questions

Question 1 (i)

Which one of the following is NOT a land-use category?
(a) Fallow land (b) Marginal land (c) Net Area Sown (d) Culturable Wasteland

Answer

The nine land-use categories in land revenue records include fallow lands, net area sown and culturable wasteland. Marginal land is not a land-use category.

2. Marginal land

Question 1 (ii)

What one of the following is the main reason due to which share of forest has shown an increase in the last forty years?
(a) Extensive and efficient efforts of afforestation (b) Increase in community forest land (c) Increase in notified area allocated for forest growth (d) Better peoples’ participation in managing forest area.

Answer

The increase in the share of area under forest is not necessarily due to an increase in actual forest cover, but due to an increase in the notified (demarcated) area under forest by the government.

3. Increase in notified area allocated for forest growth

Question 1 (iii)

Which one of the following is the main form of degradation in irrigated areas?
(a) Gully erosion (b) Wind erosion (c) Salinisation of soils (d) Siltation of land

Answer

In irrigated areas, excessive irrigation leads to waterlogging, salinisation and alkalisation of soils, which reduce fertility.

3. Salinisation of soils

Question 1 (iv)

Which one of the following crops is not cultivated under dryland farming?
(a) Ragi (b) Jowar (c) Groundnut (d) Sugarcane

Answer

Dryland farming (areas with rainfall below 75 cm) grows hardy, drought-resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram, guar, jowar and groundnut. Sugarcane is a water-intensive crop grown under irrigation.

4. Sugarcane

Question 1 (v)

In which of the following group of countries of the world, HYVs of wheat and rice were developed?
(a) Japan and Australia (b) U.S.A. and Japan (c) Mexico and Philippines (d) Mexico and Singapore

Answer

High-yielding varieties of wheat were developed in Mexico (CIMMYT, Norman Borlaug) and of rice in the Philippines (International Rice Research Institute).

3. Mexico and Philippines

Question 2 (i)

Differentiate between barren and wasteland and culturable wasteland.

Answer

Barren and wasteland (barren hills, deserts, ravines) cannot be cultivated with available technology, while culturable wasteland is land left uncultivated for more than five years that can be brought under cultivation after reclamation.

Question 2 (ii)

How would you distinguish between net sown area and gross cropped area?

Answer

• Net sown area – the physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested in an agricultural year; each piece of land is counted only once.
• Gross cropped area – the total area sown once and/or more than once in a particular year; if a field is cropped twice, it is counted twice. Gross cropped area = net sown area + area sown more than once.

Net sown area is the land on which crops are sown and harvested, counted once; gross cropped area is the total area sown including land cropped more than once in a year, counted as many times as it is sown.

Question 2 (iii)

Why is the strategy of increasing cropping intensity important in a country like India?

Answer

Cropping intensity = (gross cropped area ÷ net sown area) × 100. In India, the possibility of bringing more land under cultivation is very limited, while the population (and demand for food) is increasing and land per person is decreasing. So the only way to increase production is to grow more than one crop on the same land in a year (multiple cropping) through irrigation, HYV seeds, fertilisers and short-duration crops. It increases food production, farm incomes and employment.

Since there is little scope to expand cultivated land while population and food demand keep rising, India must grow more than one crop on the same land each year; increasing cropping intensity raises output, incomes and employment without needing more land.

Question 2 (iv)

How do you measure total cultivable land?

Answer

Total cultivable land = net sown area + all fallow lands (current fallow + other than current fallow) + culturable wasteland.

Total cultivable land = net sown area + current fallow + fallow other than current fallow + culturable wasteland.

Question 2 (v)

What is the difference between dryland and wetland farming?

Answer

Dryland farming is practised where rainfall is below 75 cm, growing hardy crops like ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar with moisture conservation; wetland farming is practised where rainfall exceeds the soil-moisture needs of plants, growing rice, jute and sugarcane, and such areas may face floods and soil erosion.

Question 3 (i)

What are the different types of environmental problems of land resources in India?

Answer

Degradation of agricultural land due to faulty strategies of irrigation and agricultural development is a serious problem:

1. Salinisation and alkalisation – in irrigated areas (Punjab, Haryana, western UP, Indira Gandhi Canal area), excessive irrigation and poor drainage cause salts to accumulate on the surface, making land infertile.
2. Waterlogging – over-irrigation and seepage from canals raise the water table, damaging crops and soil.
3. Excessive use of chemicals – insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers accumulate in toxic amounts in the soil profile, polluting soil and water.
4. Loss of natural fertility – leguminous crops have been displaced from the cropping pattern in irrigated areas, and the duration of fallow has substantially reduced owing to multiple cropping; this has obliterated natural fertilisation such as nitrogen fixation.
5. Soil erosion – rainfed areas in humid and semi-arid tropics experience soil erosion by water (gully and sheet erosion, e.g. ravines of Chambal) and wind erosion (Rajasthan), often induced by human activities like deforestation and overgrazing.
6. Depletion of groundwater due to over-extraction.
7. Encroachment of agricultural land by urbanisation and industries; mining causing degradation.
8. Desertification in arid areas.

Environmental problems of land include salinisation, alkalisation and waterlogging in irrigated areas; toxic accumulation of pesticides and fertilisers; loss of natural fertility as legumes and fallows disappear under multiple cropping; soil erosion by water (ravines) and wind in rainfed and dry areas due to deforestation and overgrazing; groundwater depletion; desertification; and loss of farmland to urbanisation and mining.

Question 3 (ii)

What are the important strategies for agricultural development followed in the post-independence period in India?

Answer

1. Early phase (1947–1960s): after independence, the immediate goal was to increase foodgrain production. Strategies included:
   • Switching over from cash crops to food crops;
   • Intensification of cropping over already cultivated land;
   • Increasing cultivated area by bringing culturable and fallow land under the plough;
   • Land reforms – abolition of zamindari, tenancy reforms, land ceilings, consolidation of holdings;
   • Development of irrigation (multipurpose river valley projects) in the Five Year Plans.
2. Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP, 1961) and Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP, 1965–66) – concentrated efforts in selected districts with assured irrigation.
3. Green Revolution (mid-1960s) – due to food shortages, new seed varieties of wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) — High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) — were introduced along with chemical fertilisers, irrigation, pesticides and farm mechanisation (the package technology), initially in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. This led to a remarkable increase in foodgrain production, making India self-sufficient, but it increased regional and inter-personal disparities.
4. Agro-climatic planning (1988) – the Planning Commission initiated agro-climatic planning to induce regionally balanced agricultural development; emphasis on the development of dryland agriculture, diversification of agriculture, and development of resources for animal husbandry and aquaculture.
5. Liberalisation (1990s onwards) – policy of liberalisation and free market economy influenced Indian agriculture; reduced investment in agriculture in some respects, subsidies were reduced; emphasis on agro-exports.
6. Other measures – minimum support prices, institutional credit, crop insurance, watershed development, organic farming and technology missions.

After independence, India switched from cash to food crops, intensified cropping, extended cultivation, carried out land reforms and expanded irrigation; then the IADP (1961) and IAAP (1965), the Green Revolution with HYV wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) plus fertilisers, irrigation and machinery in Punjab, Haryana and western UP; agro-climatic planning (1988) for balanced and dryland development; and liberalisation from the 1990s, along with support prices, credit and insurance.

Topic checklist

• ☒ Land-use categories and changes (Q 1 (i), 1 (ii), 2 (i), 2 (iv))
• ☒ Cropping intensity, dryland and wetland farming (Q 1 (iv), 2 (ii), 2 (iii), 2 (v))
• ☒ Green Revolution and agricultural strategies (Q 1 (v), 3 (ii))
• ☒ Land degradation (Q 1 (iii), 3 (i))

Total questions answered: 12 of 12