AGRICULTURE, ITS HISTORY & SCOPE IN INDIA AND MAHARASHTRA

2. COURSE.NO. : AGRO – 247 CREDITS: 1 + 0 =1
Title: Introductory Agriculture
Prof. Shivaji R. Suryavanshi
Asst. Professor of Agronomy,
Dr. D.Y. Patil College of Agriculture,
Talsande.

3. LECTURE NO.1.
AGRICULTURE, ITS HISTORY &
SCOPE IN INDIA AND MAHARASHTRA

4. • Agriculture is the oldest and most
important avocation of the world.
• Indian agriculture is known for its
multi functionalities of providing
employment, livelihood, food,
nutritional and ecological securities.

5.  One of the principle aims of
agriculture is to channel as much as
possible of the energy from
incoming solar radiation into
selected crops and or livestock
through efficient management
practices and to minimize that used
by such potential competitors as
weed and pests.

6. • Agriculture is a very broad term
encompassing (comprising) all aspects of
crop production, livestock farming, fisheries,
forestry etc.
• Agriculture may be defined as an art, the
science and the business of producing crops
and livestock for economic purposes.
• The terms agriculture is derived from latin
words ‘ager’ or agri meaning soil and cultura
meaning cultivation.

7. • The art of crop production: - As an
art it embraces a knowledge of the
way to perform the operations of
the farm in a skilful manner but
does not necessarily include an
understanding of the principles
underlying farm practices. The skill
may be both physical and mental.

8. • Some farmers are able to do farm operations
quickly, more efficiently than others and with
great ease. They are said to be skilful in their
art. The ability and capacity to plough well,
to make a good hay stack, to handle the
animal properly, to handle farm implements
and proper sowing of seeds, manures,
fertilizers etc., are examples of physical skills
which are obtained through experience.

9. • Similarly, deciding the proper time for
agricultural operation like ploughing,
selection of appropriate cropping
pattern to suit the soil and climate,
timing of production to get better prices
are examples of mental skills involved in
farming. Thus both physical and mental
skills are essential for successful
farming.

10. • The Science of crop production: -
Science is defined as a body of truths,
systematized and arranged in such a
way as to show the operation of general
lows and principal.
• Such a body of knowledge is obtained
through systematic study and research.
• Scientific principles are freely used in
our quest for increasing the production
of quality crops and in their ultimate
disposal to earn better price and
income.

11. • Recent advances made in the fields of
plant breeding and genetics, production
technology, use of fertilizers, pesticides,
fungicides, herbicides and growth
regulators, introducing of labour saving
machineries, theories and concepts in
the fields of mathematics, statistics and
economics etc have completely
revolutionized agriculture for increased
crop production.

12. • Similarly, strains were evolved to suit
different agro climatic and soil conditions.
Strains resistant to pests and diseases,
fertilizer responsive, photo-insensitive and
high yielding strains are available for
increasing agricultural production.
• The recent findings in the field of atomic
science had greatly helped in the studies of
soils, nutrition of crops, movement of water
in soil and the related fields.

13. • The Business of crop production: -
Agriculture is considered as a way of
life in most of the under developed
countries. Traditionally farming is
handed over from father to son and
no effort is taken to increase
agricultural production on business
lines.

14. • An industry run on business motive will work
more efficiently and diligently with the object
of getting more profit from less investment.
Similarly, in agriculture the land is the
workshop from where greater returns are
expected. To obtain these returns, the factors
like land, labour and capital are utilized in
such a way that greater profits are obtained.
Agriculture has been mechanized and
commercialized with the main object of
promoting business to greater profits.

15. • By making inventories on the availability of
land, labour and capital, the selection of
different branches of farming such as crops
production, livestock rearing, growing
horticultural crops, dairying etc are decided.
After the decision has been taken for
farming, the choice of growing a particular
crop to a particular area is decided, on
getting maximum profit. The farmer who has
taken up agriculture on these business lines
is well educated and known the tricks of his
trade and enjoys the most modern amenities.

16. Features of Crop production:
• Art of crop production is order than civilization and its
essential features remain unchanged since down of
history.
1. Gathering and preserving seed of desired crop plants.
2. Destroying other kind of vegetation growing on land.
3. Stirring the soil to form seedbed.
4. Planting when season and weather are right as shown
by past experience.
5. Destroying weeds.
6. Protecting crop from natural enemies and
7. Gathering, processing and storing the products.

17. History of Agriculture in India and Maharashtra:
• Agriculture has no single and simple origin. It
was started in different parts of the world
during different periods. Indus valley and
harppan civilization flourished from the close of
third millennium B.C.
• It appears from excavation and remote
sensing tests that about 10,000 years ago the
man invented agriculture. A primitive form of
Agriculture was shifting cultivation in which a
part of the forest was cut, burnt and used for
cultivation of crops. After a few years, when
these plots lost fertility and heavily infested
with grass and soil borne pests, cultivators
would shift to a new site.

18. • India’s most important contribution to world
agriculture is rice (staple food of Asia), sugar
cane, number of legumes and tropical fruit
like mango are also natives of India.
• It is estimates that most efficient hunting
and gathering can hardly support one person
per square kilometer while pastoral life
(shepherds life) can support three and
agriculture about a hundred. The important
events in the history of agriculture are as
below.

19. Important events in the
history of agriculture
Period Event
Earlier than 10,000 B.C. Hunting and Gathering
food from forest
8700 B.C Domestication of Sheep
7700 B.C Domestication of Goat
7500 B.C Cultivation of wheat and
Barley
6000 B.C Domestication of Cattle
and Pigs
4400 B.C Cultivation of maize

20. Period Event
3500 B.C Cultivation of potato
3400 B.C Wheel was invented
3000 B.C Bronze was used to make tools
2900 B.C Plough was invented, Irrigated
farming started
2300B.C Cultivation of chickpea, sarson and
cotton Domestication of birds,
buffalo, elephant
2200 B.C Cultivation of Rice

21. Period Event
1800 B.C Cultivation of Finger millet (Ragi)
1725 B.C Cultivation of sorghum
1500 B.C Cultivation of Sugarcane and Irrigation from
well
1400 B.C Use of iron
15 Century A.D - Sweet orange, Pomegranate
16 Century A.D.- Several crops introduced in India by
Portuguese potato, sweet potato, tomato,
chilies, pumpkin, papaya, pineapple, guava,
gr-nut, tobacco, cashew nut, American
cotton, rubber etc.

22. Period Event
1577-1644
A.D.
Experiment in respect to plant nutrition in
a systematic way were initiated by Van
Helmont .
1577-1644
A.D.
Experiment in respect to plant nutrition in
a systematic way were initiated by Van
Helmont .
1674-1741
A.D.
Jethro Tull – Experiment on tillage
(cultural practices) published Book- Horse
Hoeing Husbandry

23. Period Event
1834 Field experiments were stated in
Rothamstead Experiment station, England
1866 Gregor Johann Mendel discovered the
laws of heredity and ways to cause
mutation, which led to modern plant
breeding.
1870 A Joint Department of Agriculture,
Revenue and commerce was established
in India.
1880 Agriculture Department started in India
and true approach to scientific farming
started.

24. Period Event
1903 Imperial Agricultural Research Institute
Started at Pusa in Bihar and in 1936
shifted to New Delhi at IARI - Indian
Agricultural Research Institute
1912 Sugarcane Breeding Institute, was
established at Coimbatore (T.N.)
1929 Imperial Council of Agricultural
Research. at New Delhi for coordinating
work of Agricultural Research in country
Now ICAR –Indian Council of
Agricultural. Research.

25. Period Event
1958 First P.G. school at IARI New
Delhi.
1960 First Agricultural. University at
Pantnagar GBPATU.
1963 Agriculture College, Kolhapur.
1964 Agricultural University in
different states
1970 M.P.K.V., Rahuri,