These DAV Class 8 SST Notes and DAV Class 8 SST Chapter 5 Notes – Agriculture hold significant importance as study material for students.
Agriculture Class 8 DAV Notes
→ Food is the basic need of human beings. This need of food has led to the development of agriculture. Agriculture, in wider terms, is the science and art of raising crops, rearing of livestock, forestry and fishing.
→ Agriculture is the main occupation of most of the population of the world. It not only supplies food to the people but also creates huge markets for tractors, threshers, harvesters, fertilisers, etc.
→ Agricultural development is possible only in certain regions of the world. Physical and economic factors influence its development.
→ Agriculture may be divided into two categories- subsistence agriculture and commercial agriculture.
→ Subsistence agriculture is a type of farming in which a farmer and his family grow crops for self-substance. This agriculture includes nomadic herding and shifting agriculture.
→ In commercial agriculture, crops are raised on a large scale for the purpose of selling the products in the market. This type of agriculture is broadly divided into extensive agriculture, intensive agriculture and plantation agriculture.
→ Extensive agriculture is practised in developed countries by using modern machines. Intensive agriculture requires huge labour and capital investment.
→ Plantation agriculture is a very well-organised system of agriculture wherein a single crop forming is done. It requires huge capital investment, scientific method of farming, transport facilities, efficient management, etc.
→ Major crops of the world are classified into cereals, fibre crops and beverage crops. Cereal crops include, rice, wheat, maize and millets.
→ India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China. Wheat is produced on a large scale in temperate grasslands of North America, South America and Central Eurasia.
→ Fibre crops can be divided into two categories- natural and artificial. Natural fibres are cotton, jute and natural silk. Artificial fibres are rayon, nylon and terricot.
→ Tea and coffee are two important beverage crops. Major tea producing states of India are Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Major coffee producing states of India are hilly regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
→ With the passage of time, population explosion has increased the pressure on land in order to produce more food. As a result, farmers started using HYV of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and modern equipments.
→ Biotechnology is the new technique to increase production of crops. In this, the higher yield is produced by introducing foreign genes from different species. It has more nutritional value, better flavour and colour in the food.
→ Agriculture: The science and art of raising crops, rearing of livestock, forestry and fishing.
→ Substance agriculture: The form of agriculture practised solely to meet the needs of the farmer’s family.
→ Nomadic herding: The practice in which herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water.
→ Shifting agriculture: The form of agriculture in which a plot of land is cleared by felling the trees and burning them. The ashes are then mixed with soil and crops are grown. After some time, the land is abandoned and the farmers move to a different place.
→ Commercial farming: The type of agriculture in which crops are raised on a large scale for the purpose of selling the products in the market.
→ Plantation agriculture: The type of agriculture in which a single crop farming is done.
→ Retting: A process by which the fibre is separated from plant stem by decaying them in water.
→ Biothechnology: It involves the use of living organisms and bio-processes in engineering, technology, medicine, etc.