Agriculture is the tilling of land for growing crops. Different parts of the world follow different agricultural practices. There are mainly three types of agricultural activities: Primitive subsistence farming, Intensive subsistence farming and Commercial farming, Plantation Agriculture. Agriculture plays a very significant role in the development of India, as almost two third of the population is engaged in this sector. The cropping pattern of India basically consists of three cropping patterns namely Rabi crops, Kharif crops and Zaid crops. Rabi crops refer to the agricultural crops sown in winters from October to December and harvested in summers from April to June. Important rabi crops are: Wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard. Kharif crops are grown from April to June with the onset of monsoon and harvested in the months of September and October. Important kharif crops are: Paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur, cotton, jute, groundnut, soyabean. Zaid crops are grown in the short duration between the rabi and kharif crop season, mainly from March to May, during the summer season. Important zaid crops are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, etc. These crops do not depend on monsoon and are grown using other irrigation methods. Crops can also be classified under different categories. There are food crops, food crops other than grain crops and non-food crops, which include the fibre crops. Major crops grown in India are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea, coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton, jute, etc. In India agricultural activities are of great importance. These activities provide employment to approximately two third of Indian population and help us to get food as well as raw material for Industries. Some agricultural products such as tea, coffee, spices are exported so as to get additional income to the country. In India Cultivation methods have changed based on physical environment, technological improvements, socio-cultural practices. Indian agriculture has its share of problems, from fragmentation of landholdings to dependency on the monsoon and the various economic problems faced by the farmers. Various institutional and non institutional reforms have been undertaken by the government to solve these problems. Providing food security is another major concern of the nation, which the government aims at providing through the national food security system.
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