NCERT Solutions For Class 10 Social Science Chapter 16
Agriculture

(i)  (b) Plantation Agriculture

(ii)  (b) Gram

(iii)  (a) Pulses

1. Rice and Wheat   2. Kharif                3. Protein

4. Jowar                 5. Coffee, Tea         6. Cotton

(i) Various initiatives taken by the government to ensure the increase in agricultural production are:

• Consolidation of land holdings
• Abolition of Zamindari
• Land Reform was the main focus of our ‘First Five Year Plan’.
• The Green Revolution was initiated in India in the 1960's to increase food production.
• The White Revolution or Operation Flood launched in 1970, which is a project of the National Dairy and  initiated to improve the lot of Indian agriculture.
• Minimum Support Price policy and provision for crop insurance
• Grameen Banks, Kissan Credit Card, and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme are also some of the reforms bought by Indian Government.

(ii) Raw cotton and spices were important export items from India during the colonial time. Indian farmers revolted in Champaran against the British government being forced to grow indigo in place of foodgrains in 1917. Thus, globalisation has had its boons and banes for Indian agriculture. Post liberalisation, after 1990s Indian farmers face new challenges in the form of competition from highly subsidised agriculture of developed nations. This prompts, the need for making Indian agriculture successful and profitable by improving the conditions of small and marginal farmers, countering the negative effects of Green Revolution, developing and promoting organic farming, bio-technology in food production and diversifying cropping pattern from cereals to high-value crops.

(iii) The geographical conditions required for growth of rice are as follows:

• It is a kharif crop and requires hot and humid climate for cultivation.
• Temperature above 25°C and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm are favourable for growth of rice.
• Rich alluvial soils of the floodplains and deltaic areas are ideal for rice cultivation.
• Cheap labour as most of the farming involves manual labour.
• Rice requires abundant rainfall or good water supply through irrigation during its growing season in June-July.

(i) Tea is an important beverage crop. This grows well in tropical or sub tropical climates, and deep and fertile well-drained soil, which is rich in humus and organic matter. Tea bushes require warm and moist frost-free climate all throughout the year.

(ii) Rice is a staple food crop of India. It grows in the plains of north and north-east India, coastal areas and the deltaic regions. It is also grown with the help of irrigation in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh.

(iii) The various institutional reform programmes introduced by the government for the benefit of farmers are:

• Minimum Support Price policy
• Crop insurance against drought, flood, fire etc.
• Subsidy on power and fertilisers
• Kissan Credit Card and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme

(iv) A declining area of land under cultivation coupled with increasing population have many consequences. These are:

• Food shortage
• Unemployment and loss of livelihood for farmers
• Rise in price of food grains
• Shortage of supply of raw material for agro-industries
• Adverse affect on agricultural export