Types of Farming (Agriculture) in India

This is the oldest type of farming, practiced on small patches of land by poor, tribal communities.

• Tools: Ancient tools like hoes, digging sticks, and sickle are used.
• Method: They rely entirely on natural monsoon rain and natural soil fertility (no chemical fertilizers or tractors).
• Slash and Burn (Jhumming): A common primitive method where farmers cut down a small patch of forest, burn the trees, mix the ash into the soil, and farm until the soil loses fertility. Then they abandon it and move to a new patch.

This is practiced in areas with high population pressure on the land (like the plains of UP, Bihar, and West Bengal).

• Goal: The farmer tries to squeeze the maximum possible output from a very small, limited plot of land.
• Method: It is highly 'labor-intensive'. Farmers use high doses of biochemical fertilizers and irrigation networks to get multiple crops a year. The food grown is mostly consumed by the farmer's family, with very little left to sell.

This is modern, business-oriented farming.

• Goal: To grow crops purely to sell them in national or international markets for high profits.
• Method: It is done on massive landholdings using huge capital investment, modern machines (tractors, harvesters), High Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.
• Example: Wheat farming in Punjab and Haryana.

This is a special sub-type of commercial farming introduced by the British.

• Definition: A single cash crop is grown on a massive estate (plantation) over hundreds of acres.
• Method: It acts as an industry, requiring immense migrant labor and processing factories located right on the farm.
• Examples: Tea in Assam, Coffee in Karnataka, and Rubber in Kerala.