CBSE · Class 10 · Social Science · Geography: AgricultureExplain the major types of farming practices followed in India with suitable examples and characteristics.

Introduction to Farming Practices in India\nAgriculture is an age-old economic activity in India. Over the years, cultivation methods have changed significantly depending upon the characteristics of physical environment, technological know-how, and socio-cultural practices. Farming in India varies from subsistence to commercial type.

1. Primitive Subsistence Farming

• Characteristics: This type of farming is practiced on small patches of land with the help of primitive tools like hoe, dao, and digging sticks, and family/community labour.
• Dependence: It depends upon monsoon, natural fertility of the soil, and environmental suitability to the crop grown.
• Slash and Burn Agriculture: Also known as 'Jhumming' in northeastern states, farmers clear a patch of land for cereal and other food crops to sustain their family. When the soil fertility decreases, the farmers shift and clear a fresh patch of land.

2. Intensive Subsistence Farming

• Characteristics: This type of farming is practiced in areas of high population pressure on land.
• Labor and Inputs: It is labor-intensive farming, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.
• Land Holding: Right of inheritance leading to the division of land among successive generations has rendered land-holding size uneconomical, yet farmers continue to take maximum output from the limited land.

3. Commercial Farming

• Characteristics: The main characteristic of this type of farming is the use of higher doses of modern inputs, e.g., high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides in order to obtain higher productivity.
• Plantation Agriculture: A type of commercial farming where a single crop is grown on a large area. Plantations have an interface of agriculture and industry. Examples include tea in Assam and coffee in Karnataka, which require capital-intensive inputs and migrant laborers.