Agriculture

This chapter from the Class 8 Geography book explains agriculture, a primary activity that includes growing crops, fruits and vegetables, flowers and rearing livestock. You will distinguish primary, secondary and tertiary activities and see farming as a system with inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, machinery and labour, operations such as ploughing, sowing, irrigation, weeding and harvesting, and outputs such as crops, wool, dairy and poultry products. Agriculture depends on favourable topography, soil and climate, and arable land is land on which crops are grown. You will compare subsistence farming, which includes intensive subsistence agriculture, primitive or shifting cultivation known as jhumming in North-East India, and nomadic herding, with commercial farming, which includes commercial grain farming, mixed farming and plantations of tea, coffee, rubber and sugarcane. You will learn the climate and soil needs of major crops such as rice, wheat, millets, maize, cotton, jute, coffee and tea, and the countries where they grow. The chapter also explains agricultural development and compares a small farm in India with a large mechanised farm in the USA.

Detailed Worksheet: Agriculture Section A - Definitions (10 marks) 1. What is agriculture? Distinguish between primary, secondary and tertiary activities with one example each. (2 marks) 2. What is arable land? Name two factors that influence agriculture. (2 marks) 3. What is shifting cultivation? Name it in two different regions of the world. (2 marks) 4. What is a plantation? Name two plantation crops. (2 marks) 5. What is mixed farming? What is meant by agricultural development? (2 marks) Section B - Calculations and Applications (15 marks) 6. A farmer owns 2.5 hectares of land. He grows rice on 60% of it and vegetables on the rest. How many hectares are under each? If rice yields 3,200 kg per hectare, find his total rice production. (3 marks) 7. The table shows the share of workers in a village by activity: farming 540, weaving and food processing 180, teaching, transport and shops 180. Find the percentage of workers in primary, secondary and tertiary activities. (3 marks) 8. Match each crop with its main growing conditions: rice, wheat, cotton, jute, tea. Conditions: (i) high temperature, light rainfall, 210 frost-free days and bright sunshine (ii) high temperature, high humidity and rainfall, clayey alluvial soil (iii) moderate temperature, rainfall and bright sunshine at harvest (iv) cool climate, high well-distributed rainfall, well-drained gentle slopes (v) high temperature, heavy rainfall, humid climate, alluvial soil. (3 marks) 9. A small farmer in India harvests 2,000 kg of wheat from 1 hectare, while a mechanised farm in the USA harvests 6,000 kg per hectare on 300 hectares. Find the total production of the US farm and how many times higher its yield per hectare is. Give two reasons for the difference. (3 marks) 10. Classify each as an input, a process or an output of a farm system: seeds, ploughing, wool, fertilisers, harvesting, eggs, irrigation, labour, milk. (3 marks) Section C - Diagrams (10 marks) 11. Draw a flowchart of agriculture as a farm system, showing inputs, operations and outputs with at least three examples of each. (4 marks) 12. On an outline map of the world, mark two leading producers each of rice, wheat and coffee. (3 marks) 13. On an outline map of India, mark one important state each for tea, jute and cotton cultivation. (3 marks) Section D - Analysis and Higher-order Thinking (15 marks) 14. Compare subsistence and commercial farming on five points: size of farm, use of machinery, labour, purpose and inputs. Give one example region of each. (5 marks) 15. Explain the disadvantages of shifting cultivation. Why does it continue in some tribal and forested regions, such as the North-East of India? (5 marks) 16. Describe the steps that can lead to agricultural development in a country like India. Explain how better seeds, irrigation, credit and storage can help small farmers. (5 marks) Instructions: Time allowed 2 hours. Attempt all sections. Use outline maps provided and show working for all data-based questions.