Page 1 - SLRC-std 8-Geog-Chap-4-Agriculture-Subtopic-4-Agri Devp-LN

SAI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, BHUBANESWAR.
Class VIII: SOCIAL STUDIES – GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER - 4- AGRICLUTURE

(VIRTUAL CLASSES)

NOTES FOR CHAPTER-4- AGRICULTURE

SUBTOPIC- Agricultural Development

❖ refers to efforts made to increase and improve farm production in order to meet the growing
demand of increasing population
❖ includes better farming practises, better crops variety and awareness of farmers
❖ Farm production can be increased by

✓ improving irrigation facilities
✓ promoting the use of high quality fertilizers and High Yield Value (HYV) seeds

✓ increasing the farming area
✓ increasing the number of crops grown on the farm in a year
✓ mechanization - use of machinery and equipment to perform various agricultural

operations, like ploughing, irrigating, spraying pesticides, and harvesting.

❖ Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical as well as

economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary

needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life.

A Farm in India

1. Intensive subsistence agriculture is practiced on small farms in developing countries like
India that have large populations
2. A typical Indian farmer
◼ has a farmland of about 1.5 hectares
◼ buys high yielding seeds from the market to grow at least two crops a year which are
usually food crops like rice, wheat and pulses
◼ operates on a low scale, using traditional methods for agricultural operations and rely
on indefinite and temporary sources for the supply of essentials
◼ takes advice of elders as well as government agricultural officers regarding farming
practices
◼ Intensive farming practices are easy to use as the size of the farms are small and
labour is easily available.
◼ The new farming practices include using tractors for ploughing the fields which they
can either purchase or take on rent.