1. Agriculture involves growing crops through practices like preparing soil, adding fertilizers, irrigating, weeding, harvesting, and storing grains. 2. There are two main crop seasons - rainy season from June to September for crops like rice, jute, maize, groundnut and cotton, and winter season from October to March for wheat, mustard, potato, barley and gram. 3. Key agricultural techniques include various irrigation methods like sprinkler and drip systems, weeding crops manually or with chemicals, harvesting by sickle or machine, and threshing or winnowing grains.

4. 1. Agriculture is the science or practice of growing crops.
2. Crops are plants of the same kind that are grown and
cultivated in large quantities in a field.
3. There are two main crop seasons.

5. These are grown in the winter season—from October to
March.
Examples: Wheat, mustard,
potato, barley and gram

6. These are grown in the rainy season—from June to
September.
Examples: Rice, jute, maize,
groundnut and cotton.

7. The various tasks performed by the farmer to raise a good
yield of crops are called agricultural practices.
The steps involved in cultivating a crop are as follows:
Preparation of soil– sowing-- Adding manure and
fertilisers -- Irrigation--Protection from weeds—
Harvesting—Storage.

8. The sprinkler system of irrigation involves a network of
pipes linked to a main pipe and rotating nozzles on the top.
When water is pumped into the main pipe, it comes out of
the rotating nozzles with pressure in all the directions.
In the drip irrigation system, water is released drop-by-drop
near the roots of plants. This system is suitable for water-
deficient regions.

9. Weeding is the removal of unwanted plants from the crop
field. It is done manually using a khurpi or by using
chemicals called weedicides.

10. The process of cutting a mature crop is called harvesting and
is either done manually using a sickle or by using a machine
called a harvester.

11. When the chaff is separated from grains by using a thresher,
it is called threshing.

12. When the chaff is separated from grains by means of a
current of air, it is called winnowing.

13. It is important to store grains safely from moisture, insects,
rats and microorganisms. Grains need to be properly dried in
the sun as it reduces moisture and prevents attack by
insects, pests, bacteria.
Small-scale grains are stored in jute bags or metallic bins,
while large-scale grains are stored in silos and granaries.