Introduction to Agriculture
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Plant and livestock cultivation is the study, craft, and practice of agriculture. Agriculture was a key factor in the growth of sedentary human society, as it allowed people to live in cities by creating food surpluses from domesticated species.
Agriculture has a long tradition dating back thousands of years. Despite the fact that about 2 billion people still depended on subsistence agriculture in the twentieth century, industrial agriculture focused on large-scale monoculture came to dominate agricultural production.
Agriculture in India
Agriculture in India provides a living for the majority of the population and should never be overlooked.
According to data provided by the Department of Economics and Statics (DES), food grain production for the year 2013-2014 was 264 million tons, up from 257 million tons in 2012-2013. This is an excellent symptom of the Indian economy's agricultural sector.
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Total foodgrain production in the country will hit a new high of 291.95 million tonnes, according to the second advance estimates for 2019-20. This is good news, but according to the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), food grain demand will rise to 345 million tonnes by 2030.
In terms of agricultural products such as paddy, wheat, pulses, groundnuts, rapeseeds, natural products, vegetables, sugarcane, tea, jute, cotton, tobacco leaves, and so on, India remains in the top three countries. On the other hand, Indian agribusiness is still dealing with issues such as low levels of business sector reconciliation and integration, as well as the lack of reliable and convenient information required by farmers on a variety of issues in farming.
Origin of Agriculture in India
Agriculture has a long tradition in India, dating back to the Indus Valley Civilization. India is the second-largest agricultural producer in the world. Agriculture employed more than half of the Indian population in 2018 and contributed 17–18% of the country's GDP.
Agriculture and associated industries such as animal husbandry, forestry, and fisheries accounted for 15.4% of GDP in 2016 and was predicted to give employment about 41.49 percent of the workforce in 2020. India leads the world in net cropped areas, followed by the United States and China.
India's agricultural exports reached $38 billion in 2013, making it the world's seventh-largest agricultural exporter and a sixth largest net exporter. The bulk of its agricultural exports are intended for developing and least developed countries.
The Role of Agriculture in the Indian Economy
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India is an agriculture-based country, with agriculture employing more than half of the population. This is how the primary source of income is structured. As a result of the importance of agribusiness in India's national income, it is also said that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy.
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, agriculture contributed between 48 and 60 percent of total national production. In the years 2001-2002, this contribution fell to just over 26%. Agriculture and Allied Industries, which include agribusiness, domesticated animals, ranger operation, and fishery sub-segments, accounted for 13.9 percent of GDP in 2013-2014 at 2004-05 rates.
The National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was launched from Rabi, 2007-08. The National Food Security Mission's (NFSM) main goals are to increase rice, wheat, pulses, and coarse cereals production sustainably in the country's recognized regions by extending area boundaries and improving productivity. restoring soil ripeness and profitability on a ranch-by-ranch basis, and enhancing farm-level economy (i.e. ranch benefits) to re-establish farmer trust.
Modern Agriculture
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Branches of Agriculture:
Agriculture is a specialized topic that includes the applied aspects of basic sciences and is concerned with the study of many branches of agriculture science. The study of field crops and their management, including soil management, are among the applied aspects of agricultural science.
Agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of using plants to produce food, fuel, fiber, and land reclamation in agriculture. Agronomists also specialize in plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science, among other fields. Agronomy is the application of a range of sciences such as biology, chemistry, economics, ecology, earth science, and genetics to agriculture.
Horticulture
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Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the intensive cultivation of plants that are directly used by people for food, medicine, or aesthetic pleasure. Horticulture focuses on fruits such as mango, banana, sapota, guava, and vegetables such as tomato, potato, and onion.
Horticulturists use their expertise, skills, and technology to cultivate intensively grown plants for human food and non-food purposes, as well as for personal and social needs. Plant propagation and cultivation are part of their job, with the goal of improving plant growth, yields, quality, nutritional value, and insect, disease, and environmental stress resistance.
Plant Breeding
Plant breeding is the science of modifying plant traits to achieve desired characteristics. It has been used to increase the nutritional consistency of human and animal products. Plant breeding seeks to develop crop varieties with special and superior traits that can be used in a variety of agricultural applications.
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The most commonly studied traits include biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, grain or biomass yield, end-use quality characteristics such as taste or concentrations of specific biological molecules (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, fibers), and processing ease (harvesting, milling, baking, malting, blending, etc.).
Individuals such as gardeners and growers, as well as specialist plant breeders employed by government agencies, universities, crop-specific industry groups, and research centers, practice it all over the world.
Soil science
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Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the Earth's surface, including its formation, classification, and mapping, as well as its physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties, and how these properties relate to soil use and management.
Pedology (the formation, chemistry, morphology, and classification of soil) and edaphology (the interaction of soils with living things, especially plants) are terms that are often used synonymously with soil science.
Agrometeorology
Agrometeorology is the science of weather and the application of weather and climate data to improve or extend agricultural crops and crop production. Agrometeorology is primarily concerned with the relationship of meteorological and hydrological influences on the one hand, as well as agriculture, which includes horticulture, animal husbandry, and forestry on the other.
It's an interdisciplinary, comprehensive science that connects the physical and biological sciences, as well as other fields. It is concerned with a complex system that includes soil, plants, the environment, agricultural management choices, and others, all of which are dynamically interacting on various spatial and temporal scales. In order to create reasonable operational implementations or recommendations for stakeholders, the fully coupled soil-plant-atmosphere framework must be well understood.
As a result, agrometeorological methods draw on data and knowledge from a variety of main sciences, including soil physics and chemistry, hydrology, meteorology, crop and animal physiology and phenology, agronomy, and others.
Agricultural Biotechnology
Agricultural biotechnology is a branch of agriculture that includes the use of scientific tools and techniques, such as genetic engineering, molecular markers, molecular diagnostics, vaccines, and tissue culture, to increase the value of living organisms such as crops, pharmaceuticals, and livestock.
Agricultural engineering
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Agricultural engineering is concerned with the cultivation and processing of agricultural products. Agricultural engineering blends knowledge of agricultural concepts with mechanical, civil, electrical, food science, and chemical engineering principles based on technical principles. This discipline's main aim is to increase the effectiveness and long-term viability of agricultural practices.
Agricultural extension
Agricultural extension is the process of using farmer education to apply scientific studies and new knowledge to agricultural practices. Educators from various backgrounds, including agriculture, agricultural marketing, health, and business studies, now coordinate a broader variety of networking and learning activities for rural citizens under the banner of "extension."
Extension professionals, who normally work for government departments, can be found all over the world. Several professional associations, networks, and extension journals serve them. International development organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization provide substantial funding to agricultural extension agencies in developing countries.
Agricultural Economics
Agricultural economics is a branch of economics that focuses on using economic theory to improve the production and distribution of food and fiber. Agricultural economics started as a branch of economics based on land use, with the goal of increasing crop yield while preserving a healthy soil environment.
The discipline increased in depth over the twentieth century, and its new scope is much wider. Agricultural economics now encompasses a wide range of applications, with significant overlap with traditional economics. Agricultural economists have contributed significantly to economics, econometrics, growth economics, and environmental economics studies.
Plant Pathology
Plant pathology (also known as phytopathology) is the study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental factors (physiological factors). Fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, viroid’s, virus-like organisms, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes, and parasitic plants are some of the organisms that cause infectious disease.
Pathogen identification, disease etiology, disease cycles, economic effects, plant disease epidemiology, plant disease resistance, how plant diseases affect humans and animals, pathosystem genetics, and plant disease management are all topics covered in plant pathology.
Agriculture Entomology
Agriculture is one of the most important industries in Entomology is the study of agriculturally important insects and pests, and it is a branch of agriculture. While soil microbiology is concerned with soil properties and health, water management plans such as irrigation and water use systems are also critical for agriculture's integrated growth.
References list
Wikipedia of agriculture (22 March 2021). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India
What are the Branches of Agriculture By Explore Agriculture:
https://exploreagriculture.com/branches-of-agriculture/
Wikipedia of Agriculture in India (22 March 2021). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India
Indian Brand Equity Foundation (2015) Indian Agriculture Industry: An Overview.
Arjun KM (2013) Indian Agriculture – status, importance and role in Indian Economy. International journal of Agriculture and food science technology 4: 343-346.
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