Agricultural Geography — Practice Questions
UPSC Prelims-pattern practice questions on agricultural geography with explanations — tea, land-use classes, cropping intensity, irrigation, millets.
Questions
These are original UPSC-pattern practice questions. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
Consider the following statements about tea cultivation in India:
- Tea requires a warm, moist, frost-free climate with frequent and evenly distributed showers.
- Tea grows best on deep, well-drained soils rich in humus and organic matter.
- Tea is a labour-intensive crop.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Solution
All three match NCERT’s account of tea: warm, moist, frost-free climate with frequent showers; deep, fertile, well-drained soils rich in humus; and abundant, skilled labour, especially for plucking.
Answer: D
In India’s land-use classification, land that has been left uncultivated for more than five years is classified as
Solution
Culturable waste land — uncultivated for more than five years but capable of reclamation. Current fallow is one agricultural year or less; fallow other than current fallow is one to five years; barren and unculturable land cannot be cultivated with available technology.
Answer: B
Cropping intensity in agriculture is calculated as
Solution
Cropping intensity = (gross cropped area ÷ net sown area) × 100. A value above 100 means some land is cropped more than once a year. Option B inverts the ratio; options C and D measure irrigation coverage, not cropping intensity.
Answer: A
Tank irrigation is relatively most important in which of the following pairs of States?
Solution
Tanks are typical of the Peninsula — Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka — because hard, impermeable rock limits groundwater, the land is undulating and streams are seasonal, so water is stored behind small embankments. The northern plains rely on canals and tube wells.
Answer: C
Consider the following statements about millets:
- Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soils.
- Ragi is rich in iron, calcium and roughage.
- Millets generally need more water than rice.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Solution
Statements 1 and 2 are correct (NCERT). Statement 3 is wrong — millets are hardy, largely rain-fed crops that need far less water than rice, which is why they suit dryland regions and were promoted in the International Year of Millets (2023).
Answer: B
Mains
“The Green Revolution solved India’s food problem but created an ecological problem in the north-west.” Critically examine.
Solution
Introduction: From the mid-1960s, high-yielding varieties of wheat and later rice, backed by irrigation, fertilisers and assured procurement, transformed Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh into India’s granary.
Body — achievements:
- Self-sufficiency in food grains; an end to dependence on food imports.
- Buffer stocks that underpin the public distribution system.
- Higher farm incomes and rural infrastructure in the core regions.
Body — ecological costs:
- Groundwater: paddy in a semi-arid region, on subsidised power, has driven steep falls in water tables.
- Soil: rice–wheat monoculture, imbalanced fertiliser use and loss of organic matter.
- Air: burning of paddy stubble after harvest worsens winter air quality in the north-west.
- Biodiversity: loss of traditional varieties and pulses from the crop mix.
Body — the other side:
- Without the Green Revolution, the pressure on forests and marginal land to produce food would have been greater.
- Policy responses exist — the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009 (later paddy transplanting), crop residue management, micro-irrigation.
Way forward: diversify towards pulses, oilseeds, maize and horticulture with price support; shift procurement incentives; promote direct-seeded rice and micro-irrigation; take the Green Revolution’s lessons to rain-fed eastern India in a sustainable form.
Conclusion: The Green Revolution was the right answer for its time; the task now is a second transition from maximum output to sustainable output.