Briefly discuss about the different agricultural regions of India. (10 marks)

Agricultural region is an area which represents the quality of agricultural land use and its cropping pattern. It generally depicts similarities in the nature of crops grown, their combination pattern, method of cultivation, average quantum of inputs and orientation of farming activities. Factors like temperature, altitude, rainfall, soils are taken into consideration in determining agricultural regions.

Agricultural regions of India can majorly be categorized as:

• Temperate Himalayan region: Due to climate and accompanying variation in crop this region is further divided in two sub regions.
  • The Eastern Himalayan Region: This region is wet and the rainfall here is more than 250 cm including Upper Assam, Sikkim and Mishmi hills. It is largely covered with forests. Tea plantationon hill slopes and paddy cultivation in low lands are the major agricultural activities.

• The Western Himalayan Region– This region is climatically dry and this includes Kullu, Kangra and Kashmir valleys and Garhwal, Kumaon and Shimla hills. Horticulture cropsof apples, almonds and apricots are important in the high land areas. In relatively lower parts and on gentler slopes are cultivated the crops such as potato, maize and paddy.

• Northern Dry or Wheat region:This region receives a rainfall of less than 75 cm and the soils are alluvial and sandy. Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP and western MP are included in this region. Wheat, maize and cotton are the chief crops. Sugarcane and rice are grown in irrigated area.
• Eastern Wet (or rice) region:This area receives more than 150 cm rainfall. The soil is alluvial in some parts and deltaic in others. It region includes West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, AP, TN, Chhattisgarh and the states of the northeast including Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram. Rice is the staple crop of this region. Other crops include tea, jute and sugarcane.
• Western Wet Region or Malabar Region:This region includes Kerala, Karnataka and adjoining parts with more than 200 cm rainfall. It is the region of laterite soil. Plantation crops and rice are dominant crops. It produces coconut, cashew nuts, Areca Nut, rubber, pepper and Cardamom. Rice is the dominant food crop of this region also.
• Southern region or the Millet region: It receives an annual rainfall of 50 to 100 cm and includes parts of MP, AP, western TN, eastern Maharashtra, south Gujarat and parts of Karnataka. The south extreme part of Uttar Pradesh also comes under this region. Soils in this part are partly black and partly laterite and red soil. Jowar, Bajra, Cotton, Ragi, Groundnut and tobaccoare the chief crops of this region. Much of the production of citrus fruits also comes from this region. Coarse grains are the staple food of the large majority of the people of this region.

India is a vast country and is endowed with diverse geographical conditions, and seen above, it enjoys much variety and regional variations in agriculture.