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Land Resources and Agriculture – Class 12 Geography notes, important questions and MCQs

NCERT Class 12 Geography, chapter 11. Notes, key terms, important questions with answers and MCQs.

Chapter overview

Land is a basic resource, and its use depends on physical factors and human needs. Indian land-use records classify land into nine categories, including forests, barren land, permanent pastures, fallow land and net sown area. Agriculture remains important for employment and food security. India has three cropping seasons: kharif, rabi and zaid, and its main crops include rice, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane, tea and coffee. The Green Revolution raised output, but problems such as small holdings, dependence on monsoons and soil degradation remain.

Land use and cropping seasons

Land-use categories include forests, land put to non-agricultural uses, barren and wasteland, permanent pastures, land under miscellaneous tree crops, culturable wasteland, current fallow, other fallow and net sown area.
Kharif crops are sown with the onset of the monsoon and harvested in September–October (rice, maize, cotton, jowar); rabi crops are sown in October–November and harvested in March–April (wheat, gram, mustard); zaid is a short summer season (watermelon, cucumber, vegetables).
Cropping intensity is the ratio of gross cropped area to net sown area; higher intensity means more land is used more than once a year.

Major crops and problems

Rice is grown in high-rainfall and irrigated areas (West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab); wheat in the north-west (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh); cotton in black soil areas (Gujarat, Maharashtra); sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra; tea in Assam and West Bengal; coffee in Karnataka.
The Green Revolution of the 1960s used high-yielding variety seeds, fertilisers and irrigation, mainly in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
Problems include dependence on erratic monsoons, low productivity, small and fragmented holdings, lack of credit, indebtedness, soil degradation, waterlogging and salinity, and lack of commercialisation.

Key terms

Net sown area: land on which crops are grown at least once a year
Kharif: the monsoon cropping season
Rabi: the winter cropping season
Cropping intensity: gross cropped area as a percentage of net sown area
Fallow land: land left uncultivated for a period to regain fertility

Important questions with answers

What is the difference between kharif and rabi crops?2 marks

Kharif crops are sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon in June–July and harvested in September–October, such as rice, maize and cotton. Rabi crops are sown in October–November and harvested in March–April, such as wheat, gram and mustard, using winter rain and irrigation.

What were the effects of the Green Revolution?3 marks

The Green Revolution greatly increased the production of wheat and rice, made India self-sufficient in food grains and raised farm incomes in irrigated regions. However, it increased regional and class inequalities, encouraged overuse of fertilisers, pesticides and groundwater, and caused soil degradation and waterlogging.

Discuss the main problems of Indian agriculture.5 marks

Indian agriculture faces several problems. Much of it depends on the erratic monsoon, since only about half of the cropped area is irrigated, so droughts and floods cause crop failures. Productivity per hectare of many crops is lower than in other countries. Landholdings are small and fragmented because of inheritance laws and population pressure, making mechanisation and investment difficult. Many farmers lack access to institutional credit and fall into debt to moneylenders, and crop failures can push them into distress. Land reforms have been incompletely implemented, and many cultivators are tenants or landless labourers. Soil degradation through erosion, overuse of chemical fertilisers, waterlogging and salinity in canal-irrigated areas, and the decline of groundwater tables reduce land quality. There is a lack of commercialisation, storage, processing and marketing facilities, so farmers often get low prices. Disguised unemployment is high because too many people depend on agriculture. Measures to address these problems include expanding irrigation, crop diversification, soil health cards, crop insurance, minimum support prices, access to credit, better marketing and promoting sustainable practices.

Quick revision

Nine land-use categories.
Kharif, rabi, zaid.
Major crops and regions; Green Revolution.
Problems of Indian agriculture.

Exam tips

Make a table of kharif, rabi and zaid crops with sowing and harvesting months.
Map the leading states for rice, wheat, cotton, tea and coffee.

Practice MCQs

Rice is mainly a
1. kharif crop
2. rabi crop
3. zaid crop
4. winter crop only
Show answer
Answer: (a) kharif crop. It needs monsoon rain.
Wheat is mainly a
1. rabi crop
2. kharif crop
3. plantation crop
4. zaid crop
Show answer
Answer: (a) rabi crop. It is sown in winter.
The leading tea-producing state of India is
1. Kerala
2. Punjab
3. Assam
4. Rajasthan
Show answer
Answer: (c) Assam. It is grown on hill slopes.
The short summer cropping season is called
1. zaid
2. rabi
3. kharif
4. monsoon
Show answer
Answer: (a) zaid. Watermelon and cucumber are grown.
Cotton grows best in
1. alluvial soil of deltas
2. black soil
3. laterite soil only
4. desert sand
Show answer
Answer: (b) black soil. Black soil retains moisture.
The Green Revolution was most successful initially in
1. Rajasthan desert
2. Kerala and Tamil Nadu
3. Assam and Meghalaya
4. Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh
Show answer
Answer: (d) Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Irrigation was well developed there.
Cropping intensity is the ratio of
1. net sown area to total area
2. gross cropped area to net sown area
3. fallow land to forest
4. irrigated area to rainfall
Show answer
Answer: (b) gross cropped area to net sown area. It shows how often land is cropped.
Which is a major problem of Indian agriculture
1. very large farm sizes everywhere
2. excess credit for farmers
3. small and fragmented landholdings
4. no dependence on monsoons
Show answer
Answer: (c) small and fragmented landholdings. Small plots limit mechanisation.

All chapters of Class 12 Geography

Written by Kundali IQ from standard, well-established facts to help with revision. This is not an official NCERT publication; always read your textbook too.