Major Crops, cropping patterns and associated technologies

Kiwi or Chinese gooseberry (Actinidia deliciosa) is grown widely in New Zealand, Italy, USA, China, Japan, Australia, France, Chile and Spain.
In India, it is mostly grown in the mid hills of Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, J & K, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. India currently imports 4,000 tonnes of Kiwis.
Kiwi can be grown in areas experiencing 700-800 chilling hours (no. of hours during which temperature remains at or below 70 C during the winter season). The plant can be grown at 800-1500 m. above m.s.l. A rainfall of about 150 cm. /year is sufficient.
The plant does not withstand strong winds and frost during the growing period because of its vigorous vegetative growth, large leaves and viny habit. In summer, high temperature (> 350 C) and low humidity may cause scorching of leaves. Sun scald and heat stress are the main problems in its cultivation in lower areas.

Statement 1 is correct. Sulphur is essential in the structural and enzymatic components in plants. Sulphur is a key component of some essential amino acids and is needed for protein synthesis. Chlorophyll synthesis also requires S.
Sulphur is not readily translocated within plants, so all plants need a continuous supply of Sulphur from emergence to crop maturity.
Sulphur is part of an enzyme required for nitrogen uptake and lack of it can severely hamper nitrogen metabolism. Together with nitrogen, Sulphur enables the formations of amino acids needed for protein synthesis.
Statement 2 is correct. Soil organic matter is the primary source of plant-available SO4-S in surface soil.
High Sulphur deposition in soils contributes to their acidification. Soil bacteria change the sulfur to sulfuric acid, lowering the soil pH. Adverse effects of Sulphur contamination of soils are shown by the fall in pH, an increase of phytotoxic aluminium concentration.

‘Ishad’ is a native mango variety grown in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka. The mango has two variants — Kari Ishad, which has thin skin, more pulp and is sweeter, and Bili Ishad, which has thick skin and has less pulp and sweetness.
Karnataka Biodiversity Board has recommended that the Union government grant Geographical Indication (GI) tag to Kari Ishad, a variety of mango grown in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada, the Gajani Kagga paddy cultivated in Kumta taluk in the same district, and the Rajamudi variety of paddy grown in Hassan district.

Ministry of Textiles has launched the 1st ever Brand & Logo for Indian Cotton on 2nd World Cotton Day on 7th October, 2020. Now India’s premium Cotton would be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in the world cotton Trade.
Cotton is one of the principal commercial crops of India:It provides livelihood to about 6.00 million cotton farmers. India is the 2nd largest cotton producer and the largest consumer of cotton in the world. India produces about 6.00 Million tons of cotton every year which is about 23% of the world cotton. India produces about 51% of the total organic cotton production of the world.

Statement 1 is correct. Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrient, i.e. vitamins and minerals (including trace elements) in a food.
Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. Biofortification differs from conventional fortification in that biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during processing of the crops.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Bt cotton is a genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton variety, which produces an insecticide to combat bollworm.
Examples of biofortification projects include:
–iron-biofortification of rice, beans, sweet potato, cassava and legumes;
–zinc-biofortification of wheat, rice, beans, sweet potato and maize;
–provitamin A carotenoid-biofortification of sweet potato, maize and cassava; and
–amino acid and protein-biofortification of sourghum and cassava.

Aquaponics is cooperation between plants and fish and the term originates from the two words aquaculture (the growing of fish in a closed environment) and hydroponics (the growing of plants usually in a soil-less environment).
It is the cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment. In this system, fishes eat the food and excrete waste, which is converted by beneficial bacteria to nutrients that the plants can use. In consuming these nutrients plants help to purify the water.

Both statements are incorrect.
Heeng (asafoetida) is one of the widely used spices in Indian cuisine since time immemorial. But there is no production of heeng in India and currently about 1,200 tons of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore is being imported annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan.
CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) has introduced six accessions of heeng from Iran through the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), and standardized its production protocols under Indian conditions.
# Bt cotton is the only GM crop that is allowed in India.
Heeng is a perennial plant and it produces oleo-gum resin from the roots after five years of plantation. It can be grown in unutilized sloppy land of cold desert regions.

Statement 1 is correct. Pusa Decomposer developed by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) is essentially a fungi-based liquid solution that can soften hard stubble to the extent that it can be easily mixed with soil in the field to act as compost.
This would then rule out the need to burn the stubble, and also help in retaining the essential microbes and nutrients in soil that are otherwise damaged when the residue is burned.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The window of time required for the solution to work, which is currently the main concern of farmers, is around 20 to 25 days, as per the IARI.
Farmers argue that this window is too long for them, as they ideally wait about a week or 10 days after harvesting the non-basmati variety of rice — which leaves hard stubble — to sow the wheat crop.

Statement 1 is correct. Bt cotton is an insect-resistant transgenic crop designed to combat the bollworm. Bt cotton was created by genetically altering the cotton genome to express a microbial protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
Statement 2 is correct. Genetically modified (GM) crops are those crops whose DNA has been modified by introducing alien genes in the seeds to get desired effects.
Bt cotton is the only Genetically modified (GM) crop approved in India by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee of Ministry of Environment.

In 2010, APEDA, a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce, got GI tag certification for the Basmati rice grown in region located in Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) below the foothills of the Himalayas, spread across seven states — Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Western UP (26 districts) and Delhi.
Madhya Pradesh has been demanding inclusion of its 13 districts in the GI tag.

Statement 1 is correct. Pokkali is a unique saline tolerant rice variety that is cultivated in an organic way in the water-logged coastal regions, spread in about 5000 hectares area in Alappuzha, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts of Kerala.
Since the tidal flows make the fields highly fertile, no manure or fertilizer need to be applied; the seedlings just grow the natural way. In order to survive in the water-logged field, the rice plants grow up to two metres.
Statement 2 is incorrect. ‘Pokkali’ rice is cultivated in the pokkali field during May/June to October and the remaining period (November – April) is utilized for prawn culture or ‘Chemeenkettu’.

The four main byproducts of the sugarcane industry are cane tops/leaves, bagasse, filter muds and molasses.
Bagasse is the fibrous matter that remains after sugarcane or sorgum stalks are crushed to extract their juice. For each 10 tonnes of sugarcane crushed, a sugar factory produces nearly 3 tonnes of wet bagasse. Bagasse is used as bio fuel and in the manufacture of pulp and paper products.
Molasses is sugar byproduct. It is used as a raw material to produce alcohol. The main products of molasses fermentation are rum, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid, butanol/acetone, citric acid, yeast and monosodium glutamate.
Press mud or Filter mud is a residue left over from sugarcane after extraction of juice. Sugar mills use spent wash which is an affluent with press mud to produce bio-compost as manure.

Statement 1 is correct. Minimum Support Price for raw jute is fixed every year to protect the interest of farmers. Jute Corporation of India (JCI) is the Price Support Agency of the Govt. of India for jute.
While fixing prices of different grades, the issue of discouraging production of lower grade jute and encouraging production of higher grades jute are taken into consideration so as to motivate farmers to produce higher grade jute.
Statement 2 is correct. Raw jute crop is an important cash crop to the farmers. Cultivation of raw jute crop provides not only fibre which has industrial use, but jute stick which is used as fuel and building material by the farming community.
Raw jute is produced mainly in the state of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura and Meghalaya.
Recently a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU to provide certified good quality seeds to jute farmers in the year 2021-22 was signed between Jute Corporation of India and National Seeds Corporation.

Statement 1 is incorrect. India ranks first in number of organic farmers and ninth in terms of area under organic farming. Sikkim became the first State in the world to become fully organic and other States including Tripura and Uttarakhand have set similar targets.

Statement 2 is correct. PGS-India (Participatory Guarantee System of India) is a process of certifying organic products, a quality assurance initiative that is locally relevant, emphasize the participation of stakeholders, including producers and consumers and operate outside the frame of third-party certification.

Both statements are correct.
Monocropping is the technique where the farmer grows the same crop on the same land every year; this is usually practiced in wheat, rice fields, sugarcane grape vineyards and corn fields.
The long-term effects of monocropping are quite dangerous making Monoculture farming untenable:
-growing only one crop on the field throughout the farm repetitively leads to depletion of soil nutrients as soil has is not replenished with nutrients. Further the intensive farming methods pf monocropping leaves soil scarce of nutrients.
-the depletion of those soil nutrients, especially nitrogen, leads to weakness in soil and an inability to support healthy growth of plants.
-higher demand of nutrients is fulfilled by using higher amount of fertilizers. These fertilizers have their own toll on the environment.
-Monocultures are quite vulnerable to weeds and pests, which needs more pesticides to get rid of them. Weeds and insect pests can spread faster in monocultures because of the lack of biological and genetic diversity.

Micro-irrigation Development in India.
Statement 1 is incorrect: Area covered under micro-irrigation from 2010-11 to 2014-15 was declining and gradually increased from 2015-16 to 2018-19.

Statement 2 is incorrect: A dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) created with NABARD has been approved with an initial corpus of Rs. 5000 crore facilitating the States in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of Micro Irrigation envisaged under PMKSY-PDMC and also in bringing additional coverage through special and innovative initiatives by State Governments.

Owing to the large rice production area of the country, preferential soil, and
climate conditions, India is the largest rice producing country in the world after China. Rice
contributes more than 40 per cent of the country’s total food grain production.
•West Bengal is the largest rice producing state in India. Almost half of its arable
land is under rice cultivation. In the fiscal year 2016, the state produced about
15.75 million tonnes of rice over 5.46 million hectare cultivable area.
•Uttar Pradesh is the second largest rice producing state with almost 5.86 million
hectare land under rice cultivation producing about 12.5 million tonnes of rice.
•The third largest rice producing state in the country is Punjab which produced
about 11.82 million tonnes of rice during 2015-2016. The area on which rice was
cultivated in the state amounted to 2.97 million hectares.
•Tamil Nadu produces 7.98 million tones.
•Andhra Pradesh produces 7.49 million tones

Both statements are incorrect.
Heeng (asafoetida) is one of the widely used spices in Indian cuisine since time immemorial. But there is no production of heeng in India and currently about 1,200 tons of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore is being imported annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan.

CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) has introduced six accessions of heeng from Iran through the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), and standardized its production protocols under Indian conditions.

# Bt cotton is the only GM crop that is allowed in India.

Heeng is a perennial plant and it produces oleo-gum resin from the roots after five years of plantation. It can be grown in unutilized sloppy land of cold desert regions.

Statement 1 is correct. The Kiwi fruit has high nutritive and medicinal value. It is a rich source of vitamin B & C and minerals like phosphorus, potassium & calcium.
Statement 2 is incorrect. In India, Kiwi is mostly grown in the mid hills of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, J & K, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala.
Kiwi can be grown in areas experiencing 700-800 chilling hours (no. of hours during which temperature remains at or below 70 C during the winter season).
The plant can be grown at 800-1500 m. above m.s.l. A rainfall of about 150 cm. /year is sufficient. In summer, high temperature (> 350 C) and low humidity may cause scorching of leaves. Sun scald and heat stress are the main problems in its cultivation in lower areas.
Deep, rich, well-drained sandy loam soils are ideal for cultivation of kiwi. A soil pH slightly less than 6.9 results in maximum yield but higher pH upto 7.3 adversely affects the yield due to Mn deficiency.
# Arunachal has recently become first state to obtain Organic Certification for Kiwi under Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD-NER).

Kulthi or Kulth (horse gram) is a legume grown as a kharif crop in Himachal Pradesh. Kulth grown in the Karsog area of Mandi district is believed to be particularly rich in amino acids.
The Himachal Pradesh government is trying to obtain Geographical Indication certification for five products from the state – Karsog Kulth, Thangi of Pangi, Chamba Metal Crafts, Chamba Chukh, and Rajmah of Bharmour.
The GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. They are also covered under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.

Chilli is one of the most important commercial crops of India. It is grown

almost throughout the country. There are more than 400 different varieties of chillies found

all over the world. It is also called as hot pepper, cayenne pepper, sweet pepper, bell pepper,

etc. Its botanical name is “Capsicum annuum”.

Statement 1 is incorrect: Chillies are known from pre-historic times in Peru. They are

believed to have originated in the tropical America.

• It is also said that chillies have originated in the Latin American regions of the New

Mexico and Guatemala as a wild crop around 7500BC, as per the remains of the

pre-historic Peru.

• The people native to these places domesticated this crop in and around 5000 BC.

Chilli is said to be the first ever domesticated crop in America.

• The Portuguese brought capsicum from Brazil to India during the year 1584.

Chillies became popular in the whole of Asia rapidly and native Asians started

cultivating this crop as well.

• The south Asian climate suited this crop, and since its introduction in the 16

century has been increasingly cultivated in south Asia.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The world’s hottest chilli “Naga Jolokia” is cultivated in

hilly terrain of Assam in a small town Tezpur, India.

Sirsi Arecanut: For the first time in the arecanut sector, ‘Sirsi Supari’ grown

in Uttara Kannada has received the Geographic Indication (GI) tag.

Nearly one-third of the area in the country with sandalwood distribution is

in Tamil Nadu with the state covering an area of 3,040sqkm spread across several

districts. India has a total area of 9,000sqkm of sandalwood distribution spread across

eight states with Karnataka having the maximum area of 5,245sqkm. Apart from

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, states like Kerala (15 sqkm), Andhra Pradesh (200 sqkm),

Odisha (25 sqkm), Madhya Pradesh (33 sqkm), Maharashtra (33 sqkm) and Rajasthan

(sparse) have sandalwood trees distributed across a few districts.

Collective farming.

• The basic principle behind collective farming is based on social ownership of the

means of production and collective labour.

• Collective farming or the model of Kolkhoz was introduced in erstwhile Soviet

Union to improve upon the inefficiency of the previous methods of agriculture and to

boost agricultural production for self-sufficiency.

• The farmers used to pool in all their resources like land, livestock and labour.

Sugarcane is a tropical plant and grown as cash crop in the world.

Sugarcane is the main source of sugar (80%) globally and holds a prominent position as a

cash crop.

• It is one of the main crops of earning foreign exchange. The sugar juice is used for

making white sugar, brown sugar (khandsari) and jaggery (gur).

• There are two distinct agro-climatic regions of sugarcane cultivation in India, viz.,

tropical and subtropical.

• Tropical region has about 45% area and contributes 55% of the total sugarcane

production in the country. Thus, sub-tropical region accounts for 55% area and

shares 45% of total production of sugarcane. The average sugarcane yield in the

country is about 69.4 t/ha.

• In world, sugarcane is grown, between the latitude 36.7° N and 31.0° S of the

equator extending from tropical to subtropical zones. There is no country where

sugar is not being used and produced by sugarcane or sugar beet crops only.

• About 80% of sugar is obtained from sugarcane and the remaining 20% is produced

through sugar beet. An average person consumes about 24 kg of sugar every year.

Peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), is a species in the legume or “bean” family. The peanut was probably first domesticated and cultivated in the valleys of Paraguay.
• It is an annual herbaceous plant growing 30 to 50 cm (1.0 to 1.6 ft) tall. The leaves are opposite, pinnate with four leaflets (two opposite pairs; no terminal leaflet), each leaflet 1 to 7 cm long and 1 to 3 cm broad.
• Peanuts are known by many other local names such as earthnuts, ground nuts, goober peas, monkey nuts, pygmy nuts and pig nuts. Despite its name and appearance, the peanut is not a nut, but rather a legume.
• India is the second largest producer of groundnuts in the world. Indian groundnuts are available in different varieties: Bold or Runner, Java or Spanish and Red Natal.
• They have a rich nutty flavour, sweet taste, crunchy texture and over and above a relatively longer shelf life. Soil conditions in some producing regions are ideally suited for dry, clean and spotless Groundnuts in Shell.
• Groundnut is the major oil seed crop in India and it plays a major role in bridging the vegetable oil deficit in the country. Groundnuts in India are available throughout the year due to a two-crop cycle harvested in March and October. Ground Nuts are important protein crops in India grown mostly under rain-fed conditions.
• Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh major growing states in India.

The regions where farmers specialise in vegetables only, the farming is known as truck farming. The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight, hence the name truck farming.

Ratoon cropping is an old system that has been practiced for many years, especially in the Tropics.
• Although the origin of ratooning is probably not known for any particular crop, it may have begun when man first noticed the regrowth of new shoots following the cutting of certain crops at harvest, thus, producing a new crop without replanting.
• Because ratooning is practiced widely and is important in many crops, a review of the practice may be valuable, especially because increased food and fiber production is imperative in tropical areas.
• This practice is widely used in the cultivation of crops such as rice, sugarcane, banana and pineapple.

The Global Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) was started by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) for the purpose of creating public awareness and safeguarding the World agricultural heritage sites. There are three regions of India, which has been recognised as the Global Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) cities in India: Koraput, Odisha State; Kashmir Valley, Pampore region; and Kuttanad.

Fall Armyworm (FAW), an insect indigenous to the Americas, has been spreading across the globe harming crops.
• It migrated to Africa in 2016 and India in June 2018.
• It has also spread to neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Southern parts of China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
• The impact of the FAW is so intense that in one year — 2017-18 — it has damaged 20-25% crop yield worth $3.5 billion to 5 billion in about 40 African countries.
• For the first time, India has imported 5 million tonnes maize and it is suspected that the impact of FAW might be one of the reasons for that.
• This lepidopteran pest feeds in large numbers on leaves and stems of more than 80 plant species causing major damage to economically important cultivated crops and grasses such as maize, rice, sorghum and sugarcane, vegetable crops and cotton.
• America addressed the problem by introducing BT Maize.

Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR) has released its latest variety, Arka Suprabath, much to the delight of fruit connoisseurs.
• Mango is a highly cross-pollinated and heterozygous crop, which means it is difficult to get all the desired characters/traits in a single variety.
• So, it was developed by, to combine the best of Amrapali (for pulp, colour, taste and bearing) and Arka Anmol (for size and colour).
• It is a double-cross hybrid developed by using parents Amrapali (which is a cross of Dashehari and Neelam) and Arka Anmol (which is a cross of Alphonso and Janardhan Pasand).
• Arka Suprabath is a rare variety as it has got Alphonso shape with the pulp colour of Amrapali.
• Tastewise, it is sweet with less acidic properties (0.12%). Its deep orange firm pulp is less fibrous than other varieties.
• Alphonso tends to show irregular bearing after 15 to 20 years of cultivation, but Arka Suprabath grows consistently in bunches.

Chaparral is sclerophyllous vegetation that is tolerant of seasonal drought.
• It consists of small trees, woody grasses and oleose, xerophytic shrubs that form a nearly continuous cover of intertwined branches.
• Usually less than 10 per cent of the ground is bare, though the proportion may be higher at inhospitable sites

•Where annual precipitation is in the range 250–500 mm, plants may be only 1–2 m high, while crowns may reach 3.5–4 m where precipitation is 500–750 mm.
• In California chaparral is common at elevations of 300–1500 m. It occupies 3.4 million ha (8.5 per cent) of the state, particularly in its southern part and at moderate elevations.
• The European synonym for chaparral, maquis (in Italian, macchia, plural macchie), is derived from the Corsican word for a species of sun rose (Cistus), which is often a striking component of the maquis community.

In vertical farming, crops are grown indoors, under artificial conditions of light and temperature.
• Crops are grown indoors, under artificial conditions of light and temperature. It aims at higher productivity in smaller spaces.
• It uses soil-less methods such as hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics.
• Vertical farming uses significantly less water and pesticides than traditional agricultural methods.
• Being indoors, the crops aren’t subject to seasons and hence give high productivity year-round.
• Lettuces, tomatoes and green crops can be produced through this practice.
• Japan has been one of the early pioneers in vertical farming.
• It holds the largest share in the global vertical farming market.
• In Japan, vertical farming is born out of necessity where traditional farming is losing its face due to ageing population and rural migration.