In order to increase the per hectare yield of a crop, necessary inputs have to be
provided in a judicious manner. One way is to expand irrigation but use water in
amanner that this vital resource is shared and made available to all.
The crops with low yields indicated in Graph 2 mostly grow in dry lands, where the
present and even future possibility of irrigation is minimal. Planting drought-
resistant crops as per the local conditions, water-harvesting and crop rotation are
therefore used to raise production on a given piece of land.
It is also important to ensure that soil and other natural resources are not
damaged or depleted in the process. Some scientists and people working in the field
of agriculture report that the way rice and wheat are cultivated in India – by
intensive and unscientific application of chemical fertilisers and insecticides –
have led to continuous but unsustainable increase in the yield levels. In fact,
these methods have ledto soil degradation, and depletion of ground water resources.
If this continues, we may soon come to a situation that yields start falling rather
than going up.
| Describe the per hectare yield of paddy and wheat by filling the blanks in the following passage. Two crops ________ and _______ always had low yield when compared with paddy
|
The first requirement for a country is to able to produce foodgrains for the
whole of its population. How do we measure whether there is enough food for all
or not? Whether this food reaches families or not would be examined later. We are
at first estimating what is available. This means that per person (or per capita)
availability of foodgrains in the country should be sufficient and also increasing
over the years. Is the increase in foodgrain availability really happening?