Correlate the agro-climatic zones with the agro-ecological region of India.
(UPSC geography optional paper 2 2019, 20 Marks)
The agro-climatic zone is an extension of climate classification based on the growing period of the crops. The planning commission classified India into 15 major agro-climatic zones.
Agro-Climatic zone has two major variables:
- Climate
- Growing Period
The agro-ecological region is an extension of the agro-climatic zone. The agroecological region is made up of a superimposed map of the agro-climatic zone on landforms that influence both climate and length of the growing period of crops. Thus, there can be many agro-ecological zones within one Agro-climatic zone.
The Agro-ecological region has four major variables:
- Climate
- Soil types
- Landform
- Length of Growing Period
India is diverse in the form of landforms such as mountains, plains, plateaus, valleys, hills, etc. These all influence agriculture and soils.
Purpose of Agro-Ecological Regions:
- To determine crop suitability and optimizing land use.
- Crop diversification
- Research facilitating
- The agro-climatic zone is not sufficient to find out the crop suitability as not only climate influences the crop but also landform and soil types also influence the agriculture productivity.
For example, the Yield of Rice will be not the same in West Bengal and Maharastra as climate, soils, and landforms different in both locations.
There are 20 Agro-Ecological regions in India delineated by the National Bureau of Soil Survey and land use planning. The following are 20 Agro-Ecological regions:
For a detailed explanation, watch the below video:
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