Major Crops, Irrigation, Storage and Marketing of Farm Produce

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies III:

• Major Crops, Different types of irrigation and irrigation systems, storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce, e-technology in the aid of farmers.

This line follows the farm produce from the field to the market: which crops are grown and how they are watered, then how produce is stored, moved and sold, and how technology helps the farmer on the way.

Topics in detail

Major crops and cropping patterns

• Crop seasons: kharif, rabi and zaid
• Food grains: rice, wheat, maize and millets (jowar, bajra, ragi and small millets); their soil, temperature and rainfall needs
• Pulses (gram, tur/arhar, moong, urad, lentil) and oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soybean, sesame, sunflower)
• Commercial crops: sugarcane, cotton, jute; plantation crops: tea, coffee, rubber
• Cropping systems: mono, mixed, inter and multiple cropping, crop rotation, cropping intensity
• Cropping pattern changes: rice-wheat dominance in the north-west, the case for diversification, water-intensive crops in water-scarce areas
• Major agro-climatic zones of India

Irrigation

• Sources: canals, wells and tube-wells, tanks; the shift towards groundwater
• Major, medium and minor irrigation projects (culturable command area of over 10,000 hectares, 2,000 to 10,000 hectares, and under 2,000 hectares)
• Methods: flood, furrow, basin and border irrigation; sprinkler and drip (micro-irrigation)
• Lift and flow irrigation; conjunctive use of surface and groundwater
• Programmes: Command Area Development, the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (2015; 'Har Khet Ko Pani' and 'Per Drop More Crop')
• Problems: falling water tables, waterlogging and salinity, unfinished projects, free or cheap power for pumping, low water-use efficiency
• Watershed development and rainwater harvesting

Storage and transport

• Post-harvest losses and their causes
• Food Corporation of India, Central Warehousing Corporation and State Warehousing Corporations; private storage
• Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2007, the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority and negotiable warehouse receipts
• Cold storage and the cold chain for perishables
• Rural roads (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana), rail and air movement of farm produce (Kisan Rail, Krishi Udan)

Marketing of agricultural produce

• Regulated markets under State Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts; market fees, commission agents
• Reforms: the Model APMC Act (2003), the Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act (2017), private markets and direct purchase
• Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM, 2016)
• Contract farming; Farmer Producer Organisations and the scheme for 10,000 FPOs
• Co-operative marketing (NAFED), rural haats and Gramin Agricultural Markets
• Price risk: futures in farm commodities, price volatility, the role of information

E-technology in the aid of farmers

• Kisan Call Centres and SMS-based advisories (mKisan)
• Soil Health Card scheme (2015)
• Weather-based agro-advisories from the India Meteorological Department
• Remote sensing and satellite data for crop estimation and crop insurance assessments
• Drones for spraying and surveys; precision agriculture, sensors and the Internet of Things
• Digital land records and farmer databases; online payment of scheme benefits
• Mobile apps for prices, inputs and expert advice; e-NAM trading

Overlaps

• General Studies VI: commercialisation of agriculture and production of agricultural crops in Uttar Pradesh, and irrigation in the geography of UP.
• General Studies I: distribution of major natural resources (water, soils, forests), with special reference to India.