Agricultural Diversity, Problems of Agriculture and Their Solutions

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies VI.

Agricultural Diversity, Problems of agriculture and their solutions in UP.

Topics in detail

Farming in UP differs sharply from region to region. Learn the diversity first, then each problem with its cause, its region and the remedies tried by the state and the Centre.

Agricultural diversity

• Regional diversity: irrigated, high-yield western UP; flood-prone eastern UP; dry, rain-fed Bundelkhand; the Terai with its moist soils; the Vindhyan plateau
• Crop diversity: cereals, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, potato, vegetables, fruits, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants
• Animal diversity: cattle and buffalo breeds of UP (such as the Gangatiri cow and Bhadawari buffalo), goats, poultry, fisheries
• Crop diversification: why it is needed and how to promote it
• Agro-biodiversity: traditional rice varieties, millets, conservation of seeds

Problems

• Small and fragmented land holdings and the large number of marginal farmers
• Low productivity in eastern UP and Bundelkhand compared with western UP
• Water: depletion of groundwater in the west, drought in Bundelkhand, floods and waterlogging in the east
• Land degradation: usar (sodic) land, ravines along the Yamuna and Chambal, soil erosion, falling soil organic matter
• Imbalanced use of fertilisers and pesticides
• Stray cattle damaging crops
• Crop residue burning
• Marketing problems: distress sales, middlemen, weak procurement in some regions, price crashes of potato and other perishables
• Delayed cane payments to sugarcane farmers
• Credit and debt, and weak access to insurance
• Weather risk: heat waves, untimely rain, hailstorms, cold waves, frost
• Low mechanisation in the east, weak extension services, ageing and migration of the farm workforce

Solutions

• Irrigation: completion of canal projects (such as the Saryu Canal National Project), micro-irrigation (drip and sprinkler), farm ponds in Bundelkhand, recharge of groundwater
• Soil: soil health cards, gypsum treatment of usar land, ravine reclamation, organic and natural farming
• Consolidation of holdings (chakbandi) and cooperative or group farming through FPOs
• Crop diversification towards pulses, oilseeds, millets, horticulture
• Better seeds and research: agricultural universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras
• Markets: e-NAM, procurement centres, FPOs, food processing, cold chains
• Cow shelters and schemes for destitute cattle
• In-situ management of crop residue: machines, bio-decomposers
• Insurance and credit: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Kisan Credit Card, PM-KISAN income support
• Weather services: agro-meteorological advisories to farmers

Animal husbandry: problems and solutions

• Low milk yield per animal despite the large number of cattle and buffaloes
• Breed improvement: artificial insemination, sex-sorted semen, conservation of native breeds
• Shortage of green fodder and grazing land
• Animal diseases and vaccination (for example against foot-and-mouth disease)
• Dairy cooperatives and milk processing

Overlaps

Crops and commercialisation are on Commercialisation of Agriculture and Agricultural Crops; irrigation on Geography of UP: Drainage, Irrigation, Minerals and Vegetation. Issues in agriculture for India are in General Studies III, and land reforms in UP in General Studies V.