Important Notes on Indian Soil and Agriculture

Types of Soil

India is an Agrarian country & Soil is its prime resource. It plays a vital role in the economy of India as our industries are mainly Agro-based.

About 65 to 70% of the total population of the country is depended on agriculture.

Generally, there are six types of soil found in India

Alluvial Soil

Regur or Black Soil

Red Soil

Laterite Soil

Desert Soil

Mountain Soil

1. Alluvial Soil

Deposition of materials by sea and river is calledalluvium and the soil formed due to deposition of alluvium is called as alluvial soil.

This type of soil mainly found in the Indo-Ganga and Brahmaputra plain i.e. the whole northern plain and in some parts of the river basin in the south and some plateau region.

This soil is also found in the deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Cauvery and Krishna.

Alluvial soil can be broadly categorised in two types i.e. New alluvial soil and old alluvial soil.

Old alluvial soils are found in slightly elevated areas far away from the river and are clayey and sticky.

The new alluvial soil is found in the floodplain of the river and is much fertile in comparison to the old alluvial soil.

Crops Grown: Alluvial soil is suitable for the rabi and kharif crop like cereals, cotton, oilseeds andsugarcane.

2. Regur or Black soil

The regur or black soils have developed extensively upon the Lava Plateaus of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh mainly Malwa and are formed due to volcanic activities.

These soils are very fertile and contain a high percentage of lime and a moderate amount of potash.

The type of soil is especially suited for the cultivation of cotton and hence sometimes called ‘black cotton soil.’
Crops Grown: Cotton, Jowar, Wheat, Linseed, Gram, Fruit and Vegetable.

3. Red Soil

 Red soils develop on granite and geneses rocks under low rainfall condition i.e. due to weathering of the metamorphic rocks.

These soils are red in colour due to the highconcentration of Iron Oxide.

 These soils are friable and medium fertile and found mainly in almost whole of Tamil Nadu, South-eastern Karnataka, North-eastern and South-eastern Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand the major parts of Orissa, and the Hills and Plateaus of North-east India.

These soils are deficient in Phosphoric acid, organic matter and nitrogenous material.

Crops Grown: Wheat, Rice, Millet's, Pulses.

4. Laterite Soil

 Laterite is a kind of clayey rock or soil formed under high temperature and high rainfall and with alternate dry and wet period,.

Laterite and lateritic soils are found in South Maharashtra, the Western Ghats in Kerala and Karnataka, at places in Odisha, small parts of Chottanagpur and  in some parts of Assam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and in western West Bengal (particularly in Birbhum district).

Crops Grown:

This type of soil is unsuitable for agriculture due to the high content of acidity and inability to retain moisture.

5. Desert soil

This type of soils found in Rajasthan, Haryana and the South Punjab, and are sandy.

In the absence of sufficient wash by rainwater, soils have become saline and rather unfit for cultivation.

 In spite of that cultivation can be carried on with the help of modern irrigation.

Wheat, bajra, groundnut, etc. can be grown in this soil.

This type of soil is rich in Phosphates and Calciumbut deficient in Nitrogen and humus.

6. Mountain Soil

Soil found in higher altitude on the mountain is called as Mountain soil.

The characteristics of this type of soil are changed according to the altitudes.

This type of soil is suitable for the cultivation of potatoes, fruits, tea coffee and spices and wheat.

Types of Agriculture in India

There are different types of farming activities performed in India which are as follows:

Subsistence Farming

Subsistence farming is a type of farming in which nearly all the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and farmer’s family leaving little.

Subsistence farms usually consist of no more than a few acres, and farm technology tends to be primitive and of low yield.

Mixed farming

Mixed farming is an agricultural system in which a farmer conducts different agricultural practice together, such as cash crops and livestock

The aim is to increase income through different sources and to complement land and labour demands across the year.

Shifting cultivation

Shifting cultivation means migratory shifting agriculture.

 Under this system, a plot of land is cultivated for a few years and then, when the crop yield declines because of soil exhaustion and the effects of pests and weeds, is deserted for another area.

Here the ground is again cleared by slash-and-burn methods, and the procedure is repeated.

Shifting cultivation is predominant in the forest areas of Assam (Known as jhum), Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh (Podu).

Extensive Farming

This is a system of farming in which the farmer uses the limited amount of labour and capital on a relatively large area.

This type of agriculture is practised in countries where population size is small and land is enough.

Per acre yield is low but the overall production is in surplus due to less population.

Here machines and technology are used in farming.

Intensive Farming

This is a system of farming in which the cultivator uses a larger amount of labour and capital on a relatively small area.

This type of farming is performed in countries where the population to land ratio is high i.e. population is big and land is small.

Annually two or three types of crops are grown over the land.

Manual labour is used.

Plantation Agriculture

In this type of agriculture, cash crops are mainly cultivated.

A single crop like rubber, sugarcane, coffee, tea is grown.

These crops are major items of export.