AGROCLOMATIC ZONE OF INDIA AND UTTAR PRADESH

1. AGROCLOMATIC ZONE OF INDIA
AND UTTAR PRADESH
Vishal Meena

2. Introduction
● The planning commission of India,as a result of the mid-
term appraisal of the planning targets of the 7 five year
plan ( 1988) , has divided the country into 15 broad
AGROCLIMATIC ZONE.
● Based on physiography, soils , Geological formation,climate ,
cropping pattern, and development of irrigation and mineral
resources for broad agricultural planning and
developing future strategies.

3. Agro climatic zone is a land unit is terms of major climates suitable
for a certain range of crops and cultivatars ( FAO,1988) .
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4. Objective
● to optimise agricultural production;
● to increase farm income;
● to generate more rural employment;
● to make a judicious use of the available
irrigation water;
● to reduce the regional inequalities in the development of
agriculture.

5. This region stretches over Jammu and
Kashmir, Hp, uttrakhand.
● It consists of great variation in
topography, with lofty mountains, deep
valleys and steep slopes.
● The Annual rainfall - varies from 75-
150cm, except in Ladakh where it is
below 30cm.
The North Western Himalaya Region
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6. ● Rice, maize, wheat, barley and vegetables are grown in the
terraced fields on the hill slopes.
● The region is known for temperate fruits like apples, peach,
pears, almond and walnut.
● Alpine pastures above 2000m are known as dhoks/margs,
and are used by Gujjar and Gaddis for rearing sheep and
other animals.
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7. Major constraints of this region
❖ The main problem of this region are poor accessibility,soil
erosion, landslides, inclement weather, inadequacy of
marketing and storage facilities.
Measures to develop this region
❖ Intensify the soil and water conservation planning.
❖ Land utility planning should be implemented.
❖ Good storage for transportation, marketing & techniques.
❖ Irrigation management like water harvesting techniques.
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8. 2 .The North Eastern Himalayas Region
● The region includes Sikkim, Darjeeling hill areas of West Bengal,
Assam Hills, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram,
Tripura and Meghalaya.
● It is characterized by rugged topography, steep slopes, thick forests
and swift rivers.
● The climate is sub-humid with annual rainfall over 200cm
● The soil is red-brown and less fertile
● Rice, Maize, potato and fruits are main crops
● Tea is grown on hill slopes.
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9. Common issues of this region
● About one third area of this region is cultivated under Shifting
cultivation, and Shifting cultivation causing damage to soil and forest
resources
Measures to develop this region
➔ Need to check soil erosion by preventing surface run-off
➔ Educate the people about the harmful effects of land
erosion.
➔ Adoption of integrated farming systems.
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10. 3. The lower Gangetic plains
● This region spreads over eastern part of Bihar, West Bengal and
Brahmaputra valley in Assam
● It is made of rich alluvial soil deposited by rivers
● The area is characterized by extremely gentle slope and oxbow
lakes
● The area has humid climate where rainfall varies from 100-
200cm and temperature ranges from 12-300 C
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11. ● The conditions are ideal for cultivation of rice and jute
crops
● Wheat has become popular as winter crop as a
consequence of the Green revolution
● Maize, pulses, potato are other important crops
● The development needed in this is region is improvement
in rice farming, horticulture, pisciculture, livestock
● The region suffers from waterlogging and marshy areas are
found all over.
● Wells and canals are main source of irrigation.
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12. 4. The middle Gangetic Plains
● It spreads over eastern part of UttarPradesh
and whole of Bihar.
● It is a gently sloping plain, made of fertile
alluvial soil deposited by the Ganga.
● This is an area of hot and humid climate,
where annual rainfall is 100-150 cm and
temperature ranges from 10-400 C .
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13. ● Rice, Maize, millets are the main Kharif crops, while Wheat,
gram, barley, peas, mustard and potato are important Rabi
crops
● Mango, guava, lichi, Banana are main fruit crops
● There is vast scope for improvement of Kharif paddy crop in
this region
● Diversification, along with Dairying, silviculture, agro forestry
can help in supplementing farmer income.

14. 5. The Upper Gangetic plains
● This stretches over the Ganga-Yamuna
doab, Lucknow division and Rohilkhand of
western Uttar Pradesh and areas in
Uttarakhand
● This is a region of sub-humid continental
climate, where annual rainfall varies from
75-150 cm, and has a temperature range of
10-400 C
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15. ● This is an intensive agricultural region, where wheat, rice,
sugarcane, millets, maize, pulses, gram, barley, oilseeds and
cotton are widely grown
● This area has gained from Green Revolution as well
● Improvement strategy for the region include, emphasis on
mixed cropping, horticulture, floriculture, improving saline
soils
● Thearea has developed adequate facilities for canal and
tube well irrigation
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16. 6. The Trans-Ganga plain
● This plain consists of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh and parts of
Rajasthan
● The region has productive alluvial soil
● The climate has semi-arid characteristics where annual rainfall varies
from 40-100cm
● Most rainfall is from South-West Monsoon, while the rest is received
from the Western Disturbances during winter season
● Being an area of continental climate, the region experiences extremes
of temperature ranging from 450 C during summer, to 100 C during
winter
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17. ● Perennial river provide opportunity for canal and tubewell
irrigation
● This region has some of the highest intensities of agriculture
● Wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize, cotton, pulses are main crops
● The area has distinction of introducing the Green Revolution in
India, when HYV seeds of wheat and rice were introduced in the
1960s
● Hence, this region faces serious problems of waterlogging, salinity,
alkalinity and soil degradation due to over irrigation
● Region also faces serious crisis of falling water table due to over
exploitation of ground water

18. 7. The Eastern Plateaus and Hills
● This region includes the Chotanagpur
plateau, Rajmahal Hills and Chhattisgarh
plains
● It consists of red and yellow soils, with
patches of laterites and alluviums
● Region receives an annual rainfall varying
from 75-150cm, and temperature ranging
from 10-400 C

19. ● Region is deficient in surface water due to non-perennial
streams and ground water; due to hard and impermeable
rocks
● Agriculture is mainly rain fed, in which rice, maize,
millets, ragi, gram, oilseeds, tobacco, potato are main
crops
● Areas of improvement include introduction of HYV
seeds, cultivation of oilseeds, pulses, water harvesting
and water shed development
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20. 8. The central plateaus and Hills
● This region is spread over eastern part of
Madhya Pradesh and adjoining parts of
Rajasthan, which include parts of
Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand, Malwa
Plateau and Vindhyanchal hills.
● The region is characterized by semi-arid
climatic conditions where annual rainfall
varies from 50-100cm, and temperature
varies from 10-40 C.

21. ● Region is deficient in surface water due to non-perennial
streams and ground water; due to hard and impermeable
rocks
● Agriculture is mainly rain fed, in which rice, maize,
millets, ragi, gram, oilseeds, tobacco, potato are main
crops
● Areas of improvement include introduction of HYV
seeds, cultivation of oilseeds, pulses, water harvesting
and water shed development
● The soils are mixed red, yellow and black types
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22. 9. The Western Plateaus and Hills
● The region spreads over the southern part of
Malwa plateau and the Deccan plateau of
Maharashtra
● This is the region of black soil known as regur
● The region is characterized by semi-arid
climate with average annual rainfall varying
from 25-75cm

23. ● Irrigation facilities are inadequate in this region, and
only a little over 12% of cropped area enjoys irrigation
facilities
● Hence, crops depend on rainfall and are drought
resistant as well
● Jowar, cotton, sugarcane, rice, bajra, wheat, gram,
pulses are main crops
● Agricultural production can be increased by adopting
water saving devices like sprinklers in the region
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24. 10. The Southern Plateaus and Hills
● It includes southern Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and northern
Tamilnadu
● The area has semi-arid climate with annual
rainfall of 50-100 cm,
● Since rainfall is less, and temperatures remain
high, this is essentially an area of dry farming
where millets, pulses, oilseeds, coffee, tea,
cardamom
● Development of poultry, dairy farming,
horticulture, use of water saving devices can
improve situation in the region

25. 11. The East Coastal Plains and Hills
● The region extends all along the eastern
coast from Odisha to Kanniyakumari.
● The northern part of this region is called
Northern Circar and southern part called
Coromandel coast.
● It is formed by the depositional works of
Mahanadi, Godavari, Kaveri, and Krishna
rivers; and hence deltas are the chief
characteristics of this region.
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26. ● The region has sub-humic marine climate where annual rainfall
varies between 75-150cm
● As it’s a coastal area, there is small range of temperature from
20-300 C
● The soils are alluvial, loam and clay; but soils here suffer from
problems of alkalinity
● The main crops are rice, jute, tobacco, sugarcane, maize, millets,
pulses, groundnut and oilseeds
● The strategies for agricultural development are discouraging
mono-culture of rice and encouraging crop diversification
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27. 12.The Western Coastal Plains and Western Ghats
● The region extends from Tapi Estaury in
north to Kanniyakumari in the south and
covers coastal areas of Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Kerala
● Its northern part is known as Konkan and
southern part is called Malabar
● The average rainfall exceeds 200cm, and
temperature ranges from 18-320 C

28. ● Rice, coconut, oilseeds, sugarcane, millets, pulses and
cotton are main crops
● Strategies for development include devoting more area
to high value crops such as spices, pulses, fruits
● Improvement in drainage, improving infrastructure, and
promotion of prawn culture in brackish water could help
too
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29. 13. The Gujarat plains and Hills
● The region encompasses the plains and
hills of Kathiawar and the fertile valleys
of Mahi and Sabarmati rivers
● This is an arid & semi-arid region where
average annual rainfall varies from 50-
100cm, and temperature ranges from 15-
420 C
● Soils are regur in plateau region, alluvial in
coastal plains
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30. ● Groundnut, cotton, rice, millets, oilseeds, wheat and
tobacco are the main crops
● Wheat is the main rabi crop in irrigated areas of the region
● The whole region is famous for production of oilseeds
● Development strategies for the region include surface and
ground water management, rain water harvesting dry land
farming, agro-forestry and development of fisheries in
coastal zones and deltas.
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31. 14. The Western Dry region
● This region stretches over the western
part of Rajasthan(west of the Aravalli
range)
● It is an arid region, and annual rainfall
doesn’t exceed 25cm
● Winters get as cold as 50 C and
summers are as hot as 400 C
● Most of the region is sandy desert
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32. ● Bajra, jowar are chief Kharif crops; while wheat and
gram are grown in Rabi season
● Here, livestock rearing is main occupation of people
● Irrigation by Indira Gandhi Canal has changed the
cropping pattern and raised income level of farmers
● Main development strategies include emphasis on crop
improvement and water management
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33. 15. The Island region
● The region includes Andaman and
Nicobar Island in the Bay of Bengal
and Lakshadweep Islands in the
Arabian Sea
● This region has uniform equatorial
climate where average rainfall
exceeds 200cm, and mean annual
temperature ranges around 300 C
19
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34. ● Soils vary from sandy along coast, to clayey loam in
valleys and lower slopes
● Rice is main crop followed by maize, jowar, bajra, pulses
and plantation crops like arecanut, cassava, turmeric etc.
● Nearly half of cropped area is under coconut
● Main development strategies should focus on crop
improvement, water management and fisheries
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35. AGROCLOMATIC ZONE OF UTTAR PRADESH
INTRODUCTION
(a) General Information
(b) Agro and Sub Agro-Climatic
zone
(c) Climate
(d) Land Holdings
(e) Cropping Pattern
(f) Scope of Farm Mechanization
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36. (a). General Information
● Uttar Pradesh is a northern State and located between
23°52'N and 31°28'N latitudes and 77°3' and 84°39'E
longitudes.
● The Ganga and Yamuna, the two auspicious rivers of
Indian mythology, Uttar Pradesh is surrounded by Bihar in
the East, Madhya Pradesh in the South, Rajasthan, Delhi,
Himachal Pradesh and Haryana in the west and
Uttaranchal in the north and Nepal touch the northern
borders of Uttar Pradesh.
● For administrative purposes it is divided into 19 divisions.
● There are 123950 villages and 753 cities spread across 83
districts. 35

37. (b). Agro and sub agro climatic zon
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38. Bhabhar and Tarai agro-climatic zone:
● Districts Saharanpur, Bahraich, Shravasti, etc.
● Soil types: Alluvial Clayey having medium phosphorus and
● medium to high potassium
● Rainfall. 100-115 cm annually.
● Major crops Rice, Wheat, and Sugarcane.t
● he climate is moist sub-humid to dry sub-humid.
● 73% of the land area is cultivated and about half of the
cultivated land is irrigated.
● Tube wells are the major source of irrigation.

39. Western Plain agro-climatic zone:
● Districts: Rampur, Bijnour, Bagpat, Ghaziabad,
● Soil types: Sandy clay
● Rainfall: 70 to 100 cm annually
● Major crops: Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● Over 70% of the land is cultivated and more than
80% of the cultivated area is irrigated.
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40. Central-Western Plain agro-climatic zone:
● Districts Bareilly, Meerut, Baghpat, etc.
● Soil types Alluvial sandy loamy
● Rainfall: 60 to 90 cm annually.
● Major crops Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● This region has the highest land productivity in the
State.
● About 70% land is under agriculture and another 5%
land is under forest cover.
● 76% of the net sown area is irrigated.
● Tube wells are the predominant source of irrigation.
● the climate is dry sub-humid to semi-arid.
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41. SouthWestern Semi-arid agro-climatic zone:
● Districts Agra, Firozabad, Aliharh, Etawah, etc.
● Soil types Sandy and alluvial calcareous clay.
● Rainfall 50 to 75 cm annual.
● Major crops Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● The climate is semi-arid .
● More than 74% of the net sown area is irrigated and over
69% land is cultivated.
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42. Central Plain agro-climatic zone:
● Districts. Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur Shahjahanour
● Soil types: Alluvial clay type
● Rainfall 75 to 100 cm.
● Major crops: Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● About 62% of the land is cultivated of which 56% is
irrigated.
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43. Bundelkhand agro-climatic zone:
● Districts: Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Hamirpur, etc.
● Soil types: Red and black rocky soils.
● Rainfall: 75 to 100 cm.
● Major crops: Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● A little over 60% of the area is cultivated, but compared
to other parts of Uttar Pradesh, the sub-zone has less
developed irrigation facilities.
● Only about 25% of the cultivated area is irrigated as
against a State average of nearly 60%.
● Soil erosion is high and land productivity is low.
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44. North-Eastern Plain agro-climatic zone
● Districts: Gorakhpur, Gonda, Deoria, Basti, etc.
● Soil types: Sandy and alluvial calcariussoils
● Rainfall: 100 to 130 cm.
● Major crops: Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● 73% of the land area is cultivated and about half of
the cultivated land is irrigated.
● Tube wells are the major source of irrigation
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45. Eastern Plain agro-climatic zone:
● Districts: Azamgarh, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Varanasi
● Soil types: Alluvial clay soil.
● Rainfall: 100 to 120 cm
● Major crops: Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane.
● Over 70% of the land is cultivated and more than 80% of
the cultivated area is irrigated.
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46. Vindhyan region agro-climatic zone:
● Districts: Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, etc.
● Soil Types: Black and red soil, having gravel with
rich organic matter.
● Major crops: Rice , wheat, Sugar cane,
● Rainfall is adequate at about 1,134 mm;
● the climate is similar to the other parts of the
eastern plains of Uttar Pradesh.
● However, the region has a very high forest cover of
about 40% of the land. Less than a third of this land
is cultivated and only a third of this is irrigated.
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47. (c).Climate
● The climate of Uttar Pradesh is predominantly subtropical.
● Rainfall in the State ranges from 1,000–2,000 mm (39–79 in)
in the east to 600–1,000 mm (24–39 in) in the west.
● About 90% of the rainfall occurs during the southwest
Monsoon, lasting from about June to September.
● In the Himalayan region of the State, annual snowfall
averaging 3 to 5 metres (10 to 15 feet) is common between
December and March.
● Periodic failure of monsoons results in drought conditions and
crop failure
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48. (d). Land Holdings
● The total geographical area of Uttar Pradesh is 29.44 million
hectare and the area under forest 1657023 hectare.
● The cultivable area is (82.1%of total geographical area) and the
net area sown is (68.5% of cultivable area).
● The net irrigated area is 13.313 million hectare (By canals- 25.18
%, by tubewells- 66.94% and by others – 7.88%)
● The total number of land holdings are 224.57 lakhs out of which
175.07 lakh (78.0%) are marginal farmers, 31.03 lakh (13.8%)
small farmers and 18.47 lakh (8.22%) farmers hold land above 2
hectare.
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49. (e). Cropping Pattern
● The soils in the region falling under Agro-climatic zone IV are
alluvium-derived soils mostly khaddar (recent alluvium) and
hangar (old alluvium).
● In some area the soil is highly calcareous.
● The soils are loamy and high in organic matter content.
● Rice, maize, pigeon pea, moong bean crops are common in
kharif season.
● In post-rainy (rabi) season wheat, lentil, Bengal gram, pea, and
sesame and at some places groundnut is grown on residual soil
moisture with one or two supplemental irrigation.

50. ● The important cash crops of the region are sugarcane,
potato, tobacco, chillies, turmeric and coriander with
supplemental irrigation.
● Rice–wheat cropping system is more predominant.
● The dominant soil landscapes, representing the
northern plains, constitute gently to very gently
sloping lands.
● Rice–wheat cropping system is more predominant.

51. (f). Scope of Farm Mecanization
● The farm power availability in the State during the year 2001 was
1.75 kW/ha.
● Due to poor farm availablity and highly populated, the state
should progressively adopt power farming for timely and precise
field operation at reduced costs and to maximize utilization
efficiencies of costly inputs and for conservation of natural
resources.
● Gradual increasing in farm power availability from the present
level of 1.75 kW/ha to about 2 kW/ ha by 2020 is necessary for
timely farm operations.
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52. ● Mechanization of most of the agricultural operations through
custom hiring of high capacity equipment is required so that
marginal, small and medium categories of farmers can also take the
advantage of mechanization.
● Crop residue management for feed, fodder and energy is also
important.
● about 70% of the tillage, land leveling, sowing/planting, irrigation
and threshing of all the important crops will be fully mechanized and
other operations for different types of crops will be mechanized
upto about 25–30%. In U.P. sale of tractors is maximum.
● Last year maximum number of tractors about 73,000 tractors were
sold in U.P. About more than 50 laser land leveler are being used on
custom hire basis.