Geography · Ch 11 — Land Resources and Agriculture
Types of Farming
Types of Farming
On the basis of the main source of moisture for crops, farming in India is classified into two broad types: irrigated farming and rainfed farming (also called barani). The distinction is fundamental because water availability determines what can be grown, when, and with what level of risk.
Irrigated Farming
Irrigated farming depends on artificial water supply — canals, wells, tanks, or tube wells — to meet crop water needs. But not all irrigation serves the same purpose. The objective of irrigation further divides this type into two categories:
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Protective irrigation: The goal here is to shield crops from the harmful effects of moisture deficiency. Irrigation acts as a supplementary source of water, used over and above the rainfall. The strategy is to spread the available water thinly so that soil moisture reaches the maximum possible area. This approach is about survival and stability, not maximum yield per hectare.
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Productive irrigation: Here, the aim is to provide enough soil moisture throughout the cropping season to achieve high productivity. The water input per unit area of cultivated land is significantly higher than in protective irrigation. This method is intensive — it supports high-yielding varieties and cash crops that demand assured and abundant water.
The same physical source of irrigation (e.g., a canal) can be used for either protective or productive purposes depending on how the water is allocated and managed.
Rainfed Farming
Rainfed farming relies entirely on natural precipitation. It is further classified based on the adequacy of soil moisture during the cropping season into dryland farming and wetland farming.
Dryland Farming
- Geographic extent: Largely confined to regions with annual rainfall less than 75 cm.
- Crops grown: Hardy and drought-resistant crops — ragi, bajra, moong, gram, and guar (a fodder crop). These crops can survive prolonged dry spells.
- Practices: Farmers adopt various measures of soil moisture conservation and rainwater harvesting. Techniques include bunding, contour ploughing, mulching, and constructing small check dams or tanks to capture every drop of rain.
Wetland Farming
- Rainfall condition: Rainfall is in excess of the soil moisture requirement of plants during the rainy season. The land remains waterlogged or flooded for part of the year.
- Hazards: Such regions face the twin risks of floods and soil erosion. …