DETERMINANTS OF AGRICULTURE

1. TOPIC: INSTITUTIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL
FACTORS OF FACTORS

2. AGRICULTURE:-
Among all types of occupations, most of the people is involved in agriculture. Different agricultural systems
are determined by physical factors like- relief, climate, soil, forest. Agriculture of any state makes the bone of economy. But,
unfortunately, the impact of urbanisation causes the damage of agriculture. The nation should take a number of steps for
the agricultural development.
INDIAN AGRICULTURE:
India is pre-eminently an agriculture country. Agriculture has been practice in India since times
immemorials.it plays vital roles in the Indian economy. Till 1971,about 80% of India's population live in rural areas and
depended on agriculture.it contribute about 45%GDP at that time. Today, agriculture and allied sectors contributed nearly
17% GDP, while about 55% of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.
DETERMINANTS OF AGRICULTURE:
Agriculture in India is determined by a set of factors. Apps lock some of the important
factors are in India is determined by a set of factors. Some of the important factors are-
 Physical Factor
 Institutional Factor
 Infrastructural Factor
 Technological Factor
Here we will discuss about the institutional factors and technological factors.

3. INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS:
Institutional factors are the most important determinants of agriculture in India. These include Land
Tenure and Land Tenancy, Size of Land Holdings and Land reforms.
1. LAND TENURE AND TENANCY:
Land tenure and tenancy is a system under which type of land ownership is determined in the
ancient periods and in primitive societies like those of shifting cultivators’ system of collective ownership was prevalent and
land belongs to the entire community. The British government introduced the system of permanent settlement or
Zamindari, Ryotwari And Mohalwari with a hope to make the system of revenue collection more effective and to
improve agricultural production.
LAND HOLDINGS:
In India the size of land holding is too small. Due to the rapid growth of
population during the last few decades and the existing law of inheritance, the agricultural land is divided equally among
the male children of the deceased farmer. At present the capital available land is only about 0.10 hectare which is much
below the world average of about 4.50 hectares over 70% of the land holdings are less than 1 hectare.
Factors affecting the size of economic land holdings:
Size of economic land holdings depends on a number of factors, which are-
 Irrigation
 Type of agriculture
 Farm mechanisation

4. Fig-i:- Average size of land holding in India (2010-11)

5. 2. LAND REFORMS:
The primary objectives of land reforms are-
I) Do social justice with the tillers, landowners, landless labourers,
ii) To fix a rational rent,
iii) To increase the agricultural productivity.
The scheme of land reforms includes:
 Abolition of intermediaries
 Land tenancy reforms
 Ceiling on land holdings and distribution of surplus land to the landless labourers and small farmers
 Agrarian reorganization including consolidation of holdings and prevention of their subdivision and fragmentation.
 ABOLITION OF INTERMEDIARIES:
• ZAMINDARI SYSTEM
• RYOTWARI SYSTEM
• MAHALWARI SYSTEM
 TENANCY REFORMS:
• regulation of rent,
• security of tenure and
• conferment of ownership on tenants.
 CEILING OF LANDHOLDINGS:
The ceiling on land holdings was intended to:

6. (I) meet the land needs of the landless
(ii) to reduce the inequalities in land ownership for the development of
co-operative rural economy
(iii) to increase self-employment in owned land as distinguished from
subletting and tenant cultivation.
 CONSOLIDATION OF HOLDINGS:
Some basic points which are coming
in the way of implementation of consolidation-
(I) farmers are emotionally attached to their ancestral land, and
therefore, they are not willing to take advantage of the scheme of
consolidation of holding.
(ii) under the existing law of inheritance, the fields continue to be
smaller and fragmented.
(iii) it has been observed that the small farmers are generally allotted
inferior quality of land and due to lack of money power, they are
neither able to please the officials nor get justice in the court.
Fig-ii: CEILING OF LANDHOLDINGS

7. 3.Others Factors:-
 Rural service center
 Marketing facilities
 Transports costs
 Accessibility to roads
 Price incentives
 Credit agencies
 Political policies
 Land reclamation
 Dry-farming technology

8.  TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS:
Modernization of agriculture required appropriate machinery. Technological
factors include HYVs, chemical fertilizers insecticides, pesticides, tractor and other agricultural machinery. Like-
combine harvester, sugarcane harvester, potato combine, paddy thresher, laser guided land leveller. The use and
availability of these inputs also enhance the agricultural productivity of a region.
1. HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES:
High yielding varieties of seeds comprise one of the most important inputs for
enhancing agricultural productivity and production. The high yielding variety program was launched in 1966 to 67 and
covered 18.9 lakh hectares or 2.2 % of the total cropped area of the six crops like- Rice, Wheat, Jowar, Bajra, Maize and
Ragi in that year. Since then, the production of hyv seeds has been increased steadily.
Fig: iii-crop-wise distribution of certified seeds (lakh quintals).

9. 2.IRRIGATION:
Irrigation in India includes a network of major and minor canals from Indian
rivers, groundwater well based systems, tanks, and other rainwater harvesting projects for agricultural activities. Of these
groundwater system is the largest. In 2013-14, only about 36.7% of total agricultural land in India was reliably irrigated, and
remaining 2/3rd cultivated land in India is dependent on monsoons. 65% of the irrigation in India is from groundwater.
Currently about 51% of the agricultural area cultivating food grains is covered by irrigation . The rest of the area is
dependent on rainfall.

10. Modes of irrigation:-
 canal irrigation
 Lift irrigation
 Tank irrigation
3. FERTILIZERS:-
In the areas of controlled irrigation, the recommendation of the use of chemical fertilizers
for the new seeds of wheat and rice in the new seeds of wheat and rice in terms of NPK is 90-45 kg per
hectare. Some of the well-off farmers of Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh are applying the
chemical fertilisers to the crop in the prescribed quantity. The all India average fertilizer consumption is 140 kg
per hectare per annum in 2014-15. There are three main types of chemical fertilizers which are known as
nitrogen(n), phosphatic(p) and potassic(k). Uttar Pradesh is the largest consumer with a consumption of
4230.09 thousand tonnes in 2015 to 16. Telangana is at the top consuming two 268.9 1kg/ha.
Besides the chemical fertilizers, the sales projection for 2017-2018 of the organic fertilizers is given below.
Neem-130mt, v. Bio fertilizer-300mt, v. Organicmanure-6000mt, v. City.

11. Fig-iv: consumption of fertilizers in kg /hectare(2015-16)

12. 4. INSECTICIDES AND PESTICIDES:.
The new seeds are very delicate and highly susceptible to pests and diseases. These
insects and pests cause heavy damage to crops and reduce their beards substantially. The problems of crop disease and
pests may also be tackled by timely application of insecticides and pesticides. Thus, the farmer must have adequate
knowledge of plant disease and their controlling chemicals. If the timely spray of the insecticides and pesticides is not done,
the crop of the entire village/region may damage. Since the plant protection chemicals are quite expensive and they are
generally out of reach of the small and marginal farmers. At present plant protection is available to only 35% of the total
cropped area.
5.MECHANIZATION:
Modern farming tools and technology like-Tractors, Leveller, Seeder, Planter,
Threshers, Harvesters, Winnower and Sprayers are also imperative for the
successful cultivation of the high yielding varieties. Two or three crops from the
same field is possible only if the modern technology is available to the farmer.
The indigenous plough and bullock/buffalo carts are less efficient to complete
the agricultural operations on time.

13. 6.ELECTRIC POWER:
Availability of electric power which is the nucleus of all technological development, is imperative for
multiple cropping and intensification of agriculture. As a matter of fact, electric power has a vital role in the development and
diffusion of high yielding varieties. It supplies the mechanical power to tube wells, pumping sets, threshers, crushers, grinders
and chaff-cutters. Mechanical and electrical sources of power have increased from 7 % to about 90% from 1960 to 2014-15.
7.Others factors:-
o Farm implements
o Plant protection
o Capital constraint

14. REFERENCE:
 Khullar, D.R. (2018). INDIA: A Comprehensive Geography. Noida, U.P.: Kalyani Publishers
 Husain, M. (2020). Geography of India. New Delhi: McGraw-Hill Publication
 Singh,j and dhillon,s.s. Agricultural geography. Tata McGraw-Hill publishing company limited.