On this page, you will find NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Notes Pdf free download. CBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Geography Chapter 4 SST Agriculture will seemingly, help them to revise the important concepts in less time.

Agriculture Class 8 Notes Social Science Geography Chapter 4

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 4 Notes Understanding the Lesson

1. The transformation from a plant to a finished product involves three types of economic activities.

  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Tertiary.

2. Primary activities include all those connected with extraction and production of natural resources.

3. Secondary activities are concerned with the processing of these resources.

4. Tertiary activities provide support to the primary and secondary sectors through services. Their examples are:

  • Primary activities: Agriculture, fishing and gathering.
  • Secondary activities: Manufacturing of steel, baking of bread and weaving of cloth, etc.
  • Tertiary activities: Transport, trade, banking, insurance and advertising, etc.

5. Agriculture is a primary activity as it includes growing crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers and rearing of livestock.

6. 50% of persons engaged in agricultural activity in world and in India, two-thirds of population is still dependant on it.

7. Favourable topography of soil and climate are vital for agricultural activity.

8. The land on which the crops are grown is known as arable land.

9. Agriculture or farming can be looked at as a system and the important inputs are seeds, fertilisers, machinery and labour. Some of the operations involved are ploughing, sowing, irrigation, weeding and harvesting. The outputs from the system include crops, wool, dairy and poultry products.

10. Farming can be classified into two main categories. These are subsistence farming and commercial farming.

11. Subsistence Farming

  • This type of farming is practised in order to meet the needs of the farmer’s family.
  • Traditionally, low levels of technology and household labour are used to produce on small output.

12. There are further two divisions of subsistence farming:

13. Intensive farming

  • This includes the farmer who cultivates on a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour.

14. Primitive farming

  • This includes shifting cultivation and nomadic herding.

15. Shifting cultivation: It is practised in the thickly forested area. These areas are the areas of heavy rainfall and quick regeneration of vegetation. A plot of land is cleared by felling the trees and burning them. After the soil loses its fertility, the land is abandoned and the cultivator moves to a new plot. Shifting cultivation is also known as ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.

16. Nomadic herding: It is practised in the semi-arid and arid regions. In this type of farming, herdsmen move from place to place with their animals for fodder and water, along defined routes. This type of movement arises in response to climatic constraints and terrain.

17. Commercial farming is the type of farming in which crops are grown and animals are reared for sale in market. In this farming crops are grown for commercial purpose.

18. Mixed farming is in which the land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock.

19. Plantations are a type of commercial farming where single crop of tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana or cotton are grown with the help of large labour and capital. Development of transportation network is very much essential for this type of farming.

20. A large variety of crops that are grown for fulfilling the requirement of the growing population are termed as major crops. These crops also supply raw material for Agro based industries.

21. Major food crops are

Rice:

  • Major food crop of the world.
  • Staple diet of the tropical and sub-tropical regions.
  • Needs high temperature, humidity and rainfall.
  • China leads in the production of rice followed by India.

22. Wheat: requires moderate temperature and rainfall during the growing season and bright sunshine at the time of harvest. It thrives best in well-drained loamy soil.

  • In India it is grown in winter.

23. Millets: They are also known as coarse grains.

  • They can be grown on less fertile and sandy soils.
  • Hardy crop that needs low rainfall and high to moderate temperature and adequate rainfall.
  • Jowar, Bajra and Ragi are grown in India.

27. Maize: Requires moderate temperature, rainfall and lot of sunshine.

28. Cotton: It requires high temperature, light rainfall, two hundred and ten frost-free days and bright sunshine for its growth.

  • It grows best on black and alluvial soils.
  • It is one of the main raw materials for the cotton textile industry.

29. Jute: It is also known as the ‘Golden Fibre’.

  • Requires high temperature and heavy rainfall and humid climate.
  • The crop is grown in the tropical areas.

30. Coffee: It requires warm and wet climate.

  • Hill slopes are more suitable for the growth of this crop.
  • Brazil is the leading producer.

31. Tea: This is a beverage crop grown on plantations.

  • Requires cool climate and well-distributed high rainfall throughout the year for the growth of its tender leaves.
  • Labour in large is required for the purpose of picking the leaves.

32. Agricultural development can be defined as the efforts made in order to increase the farm production for meeting the growing demand of increasing population.

33. The ultimate aim of agricultural development is to increase food security.

34. Developing countries used to practise intensive agriculture where the crops are grown on smallholdings mostly for subsistence.

35. Due to lack of storage facilities farmers are forced to sell the produce even when the market is not favourable to them. Government has taken several steps to develop storage facilities.

36. Compared to that of Indian farming the farmers of the developed countries like the USA works same as a businessman works in order to earn profit on a large scale using a large land.

Agriculture Class 8 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Agriculture: Derived from Latin words in which ager or agri means soil and culture means cultivation. It is the science and art of cultivation of the soil, raisin crops and rearing livestock. It is also called farming.

Sericulture: commercial rearing of silkworms.

Pisciculture: Breeding of fish in specially constructed tanks and ponds.

Viticulture: Cultivation of grapes.

Horticulture: Growing vegetables, flowers and fruits for commercial use.

Mixed farming: The land is used for growing food and fodder crops and rearing livestock.

Organic farming: It is the type of farming in which organic manure and natural pesticides are used instead of chemicals. No genetic modification is done to increase the yield of the crop.