NCERT Solutions Class 12 Geography Chapter 3 Land Resources and Agriculture

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below.

(i) Which one of the following is NOT a land-use category?
(a) Fallow land
(b) Marginal land
(c) Net Area Sown
(d) Culturable Wasteland

Answer : B

(ii) What one of the following is the main reason due to which share of forest has shown an increase in the last forty years?
(a) Extensive and efficient efforts of afforestation
(b) Increase in community forest land
(c) Increase in notified area allocated for forest growth
(d) Better peoples’ participation in managing forest area.

Answer : C

(iii) Which one of the following is the main form of degradation in irrigated areas?
(a) Gully erosion
(b) Wind erosion
(c) Salinisation of soils
(d) Siltation of land

Answer : C

(iv) Which one of the following crops is not cultivated under dryland farming?
(a) Ragi
(b) Jowar
(c) Groundnut
(d) Sugarcane

Answer : D

(v) In which of the following group of countries of the world, HYVs of wheat and rice were developed?
(a) Japan and Australia
(b) U.S.A. and Japan 
(c) Mexico and Philippines
(d) Mexico and Singapore

Answer : C

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) Differentiate between barren and wasteland and culturable wasteland.
Answer : • Barren and Wastelands : The land which may be classified as a wasteland such as barren hilly terrains, desert lands, ravines, etc. normally cannot be brought under cultivation with the available technology.
• Culturable Waste-Land : The land which is left uncultivated for more than five years is included in this category. It can be brought under cultivation after improving it through reclamation practices.

(ii) How would you distinguish between net sown area and gross cropped area?
Answer : • Net sown area: The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested is known as net sown area.
• Gross cropped area: The area which includes net sown area plus area sown and harvested twice or thrice in a year.

(iii) Why is the strategy of increasing cropping intensity important in a country like India?
Answer : The strategy of increasing cropping intensity is important in a country like India because:
• To increase the production of foodgrains for the increasing population and to meet out the demand of raw materials for the agro-based industries.
• A higher cropping intensity is desirable not only fuller utilisation of land resources but also for reducing unemployment in the rural areas.

(iv) How do you measure total cultivable land?
Answer : Total cultivable land can be measured by adding up net sown area, all fallow lands and cultivable wasteland.

(v) What is the difference between dryland and wetland farming?
Answer : Dryland Farming
• The dryland farming is largely confined to the regions having annual rainfall less than 75 cm.
• These regions grow hardy and drought resistant crops such as ragi, bajra, moong, gram and guar (fodder crops) and practise various measures of soil moisture conservation and rain water harvesting.
Wetland Farming
• The rainfall is in excess of soil moisture requirement of plants during rainy season. Such regions may face flood and soil erosion hazards.
• These areas grow various water intensive crops such as rice, jute and sugarcane and practise aquaculture in the fresh water bodies.

3. Answer the following questions in about 150 words.

(i) What are the different types of environmental problems of land resources in India?
Answer : Different types of environmental problems of land resources in India are:
1. Dependence on Erratic Monsoon: Irrigation covers only about 33% of the cultivated area in India. The crop production in the rest of the cultivated land directly depends on rain. Poor monsoon adversely affects the supply of canal water for irrigation. Rainfall in drought-prone areas is too meager and highly unreliable. Even the areas receiving high annual rainfall experience considerable fluctuations. This makes them vulnerable to both droughts and floods.
2. Degradation of Cultivable Land: One of the serious problems that arise out of faulty strategy of irrigation and agricultural development is the degradation of land resources. It may lead to depletion of soil fertility. In irrigated areas, a large tract of agricultural land has lost its fertility due to alkalisation and salinisation of soils and waterlogging. Excessive use of chemicals such as insecticides and pesticides has led to their concentration in toxic amounts in the soil profile. Leguminous crops have been displaced from the cropping pattern in the irrigated areas and the duration of fallow has substantially reduced owing to multiple cropping. This has obliterated the process of natural fertilization such as nitrogen fixation. Rainfed areas in humid and semi-arid tropics also experience degradation of several types like soil erosion which are often induced by human activities.

(ii) What are the important strategies for agricultural development followed in the postindependence period in India?
Answer : Indian agricultural economy was largely subsistence in nature before Independence. During partition about one-third of the irrigated land in undivided India went to Pakistan. After Independence, the immediate goal of the Government was to increase foodgrains production by:
1. switching over from cash crops to food crops.
2. intensification of cropping over already cultivated land.
3. increasing cultivated area by bringing cultivable and fallow land under plough.
Later, the Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP) and the Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP) were launched. But two consecutive droughts during mid-1960s resulted in food crisis in the country.
New seed varieties of wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) known as high yielding varieties (HYVs) were available for cultivation by mid-1960s. India took advantage of this and introduced package technology comprising HYVs, along with chemical fertilisers in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, leading to fast agricultural growth. This spurt of agricultural growth came to be known as ‘Green Revolution’. This also gave fillip to the development of a large number of agroinputs, agro-processing industries and smallscale industries. This strategy of agricultural development made the country self-reliant in foodgrain production.
The Planning Commission of India focused its attention on the problems of agriculture in rainfed areas in the 1980s. It initiated agro-climatic planning in 1988 to induce regionally balanced agricultural development in the country. It also emphasized the need for diversification of agriculture and harnessing of resources for the development of dairy farming, poultry, horticulture, livestock rearing and aquaculture.