Types Of Farming

1. Primitive Subsistence Farming

1.1. This type of cultivation is practised on small lands with help of ancient time tools like hoe, dao, digging sticks and labour. In this farming, farmers clean small land and cultivate crops in order to gather food for family. If soil fertility decrease, farmers leaves the land as it is and cultivate on other place. This helps to gain fertility of the land by natural processes. Shifting type of farming is also called as “Slash and Burn” agriculture. This cultivation mainly depends on monsoon and soil fertility and favourable environmental condition. Particularly, this cultivation does not involves much use of fertilisers, modern tools for farming, hence, productivity is limited. In India this is also known as jhumming in North Eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. It is known as Pamlou in Manipur, Dipa in Bastar district of Chattisgarh and Andaman and Nicobar Island.

2. Intensive Subsistence Farming

2.1. This type of cultivation is generally done by using manual labour, more biochemicals and irrigating more water particularly on small lands. It provides higher productivity Intensive subsistence farming is practiced in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Orissa.

3. Commercial Farming

3.1. It mainly involves cultivation of crops like rice, sugarcane, banana, tea, coffee. These are grown on large lands with the help of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides. Commercial farming depends on degree of commercialization. It is the amount of total produce available for sale. It varies from region to region. For example, rice is commercial crop for Haryana and Punjab, hence, it in these states it is available in large quantities for sale. However, in Odisha, rice is subsistence crop. Therefore, degree of commercialisation is higher in Haryana and Punjab and lower in Odisha. Commercial farming requires large investments. Productivity of commercial farming is high due to use of modern tools and techniques. This cultivation is practiced mainly in Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra.