TS 6th Class Social 7th Lesson Questions and Answers Telangana – Agriculture in Our Times

Telangana SCERT TS 6th Class Social Study Material Pdf 7th Lesson – Agriculture in Our Times Textbook Questions and Answers.

Agriculture in Our Times – The Earliest People – TS 6th Class Social 7th Lesson Questions and Answers Telangana

Question 1.
How can the government help the farmers in Venkatapuram and prevent migration ?
Answer: Agricultural labourers not only face lack of jobs in rural areas but their wages are not going up. Government employment schemes provide relief but not for many days in a year. Their families are left with no option but to look for work outside villages or move to urban areas.
I think the government can help the farmers in Venkatapuram by providing loans, giving subsidies to buy crop inputs like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and also by implementing employment schemes and curb the migrations.

Question 2.
Fill in the following table.

Person	Wages during normal season	Wages during harvesting season	Wages in non – agriculture ’ works	Wages paid in government schemes
Men	Rs. 200-250 per day	No information	Rs. 300 per day	Rs. 150 per day
Women	Rs. 100-130 per day	No information	Rs. 180-200 per day	Rs. 150 per day

Question 3.
Compare the condition of a big farmer of your village with that of Vijayakumar in Venkatapuram.
Answer:

Yella Reddy, a big farmer owns 45 acres of land in our village.
He practices various crops in his field with the help of workers.
He takes agricultural loans from Bank and repays them in time.
He owns two tractors, harvester, thresher, etc. useful in agriculture.
He has dug 5 borewells in his fields, out of which 3 are operating.
He owns a rice shop and lends workers in his field.
He gets required workers in field without break.

Question 4.
Who took a bank loan in Venkatapuram ? What was the reason for taking a bank loan ?
Answer:
Banks are reluctant to lend to small farmers. So they depend on brokers or money lenders. Vijayakumar has 25 acres of land with three borewells. His paddy fields are in the command area of the village tank. He borrowed Rs. 25 lakhs from a bank to buy the harvester and thresher. He hires them out to other farmers on rent base.

Question 5.
How do banks and money lenders give loans to fanners ? Do you think borrowing from money lenders is profitable ? What are the alternative sources ?
Answer:

Banks give money to farmers on collateral security. They charge less interest rates.
Money lenders give money even with personal intimacy. They charge comparatively higher interest.
Small farmers lack collateral and depend on moneylenders for money. Failure of crops and fall in prices make them debtridden.
So, 1 think borrowing from money lenders is not profitable for farmers.
Alternate sources could be like government extending agricultural inputs at subsidised prices and pre – announcing minimum support price for farm produces.

Question 6.
How do you think the conditions of farmers can be improved ?
Answer:
Agricultural labourers not only face lack of jobs in rural areas but their wages are not going up. Government employment schemes provide relief but not for many days in a year. Their families are left with no option but to look for work outside villages or move to urban areas.

Banks should give support for small farmers and give loans for crop inputs.
The government should give employment through schemes for the entire year.
The government should give subsidies for small farmers to buy inputs like seeds fertilizers and pesticides.

Question 7.
Compare three farmers in Venkatapuram and furnish details.

Subject	Ravi	Ramu	Vijayakumar
Size of land (in acres)	4	2	25
Source of Irrigation	Borewell	Tank	Borewells, Tank’
Agriculture tools and implements	–	–	Harvester, Thresher, Borewells, Tractor, Trailor
Use of fertilizers	Pesticides	Pesticides	Pesticides
Manner of selling groundnut	To Broker in season	To Vijay- kumar in season	In off season
Other works	Labour in self land	Labour in other lands	Lending money, hiring machines, dairy farm, etc.

Question 8.
Collect news items on problems faced by small and marginal farmers and the measures taken by government to solve their problems.
Answer:
Project work.

Question 9.
Nowadays all the farmers prefer cash crops to the food crops what problems does this lead to ?
Answer:

The production of certain food crops may become limited.
India is the second populous country in the world.
So the decrease in food crops may to lead to starvation.
Balance should be maintained in these crops.

Question 10.
Read about contract farming on page 118 (59) and comment on it.
Answer:
In contract farming, companies advise farmers to follow specific farming practices and also provide financial support. They buy the harvest at pre – determined prices and pay the farmers after deducting the input costs. The companies use the produce as a raw material for making their own products or export them directly. Farmers of some parts in Telangana have made contracts with some companies to cultivate crops such as paddy, maize, groundnut, cotton, soyabean, palm oil, coconut, amla, chilli and cucumber.

Question 11.
With the help of the atlas point out regions where groundnut is grown in India
Answer:

I. Conceptual Understanding

Question 1.
What is the contract farming ?
Answer:
In some parts of Telangana companies have made contracts with farmers to cultivates crops such as palm oil, paddy, cucumbers, amlAnswer: maize, groundnut, soyabean, cotton and chilli. This type of farming is called contract farming. In contract farming, companies advise farmers to follow specific farming practices and also provide financial support. They buy the harvest at pre-determined price and pay the farmers after deducting the input costs.

Question 2.
What kind of work do the labourers find in Venkatapuram ?
Answer:
During harvest or sowing seasons, women labourers get Rs. 100-130 per day whereas male workers get Rs. 200-250 per day. In the government employment scheme, both men and women workers get about Rs. 150 per day. In non-agricultural activities such as loading and unloading of sand or bricks and construction works they get a little more – Rs. 300 for men and Rs. 180-200 per day for women. Men workers are generally engaged to uproot groundnut plant with roots and stem, gather, bundle and carry the bundles to a place. Women are engaged to pluck groundnut seeds from the plant.

Question 3.
What are the conditions of small farmers of Telangana ?
Answer:
Small farmers own very little land and have poor irrigation facilities. They are in great need of loans and they have to approach banks or rich peasants or money lenders or brokers for this. They are forced to sell their produce at lower prices. To make both ends meet they have to work as labourers in other’s fields.

Question 4.
What are the food crops and cash crops grown in Telangana ?
Answer:

Over the years, agriculture in Telangana has changed.
Even though paddy continues to be the main crop, other food crops like ragi, jowar, and maize have declined and have been replaced by cash crops like cotton, sugarcane, groundnut, turmeric, chillies, etc.

Question 5.
What are the different ways in which the labourers meet the expenses of the family over the year ?
Answer:
Like RamAnswer: Lakshmamma and PadmAnswer: poor labouring families face a lot of challenges in maintaing their income to run their families. The women also spend a lot of time on their household work such as getting their children ready to go to schools, preparing food, getting water and firewood.

II. Reading the Text (given), Understanding and Interpretation

Question 1.
How are large farmers getting benefits in Venkatapuram ?
Answer:
Large farmers are able to benefit from the new equipment and the growing market for agricultural produce. They have now diversified their investments into
setting up dairy farms, poultry farms, schools, shops, money lending etc.

Question 2.
How are small farmers dependent on big farmers ? Give examples from Ramu’s case ?
Answer:
Small farmers are -dependent on big farmers. For example, Ramu owns two acres of land which depends upon the village tank for irrigation. Vijayakumar provides water for Ramu’s paddy fields. In return he has to irrigate his employer’s large paddy and sugarcane fields and do whatever important task assigned to him. Since Ramu can drive, he gets employed as a tractor driver for ploughing the fields and transporting paddy and other things to the market.

Question 3.
Why do you think small farmers can’t borrow money easily from the banks ?
Answer:
Banks are reluctant to lend money to small farmers, especially when they need it desperately. They cannot satisfy the rules of bank authorities. So the small farmers cannot borrow money easily from the banks.

III. Information Skills

1. Read the paragraph and answer the following questions.

Vijayakumar has 25 acres of land with three borewells. His paddy fields are in the command area of the village tank. He borrowed Rs. 25 lakhs from a bank to buy the harvester and thresher. He hires them out to other farmers. Many farmers in Venkatapuram and the surrounding villages use these equipments. With all this additional income, Vijayakumar is able to buy more farm machines, borewells and lease in more lands from other small farmers. Vijayakumar gets some more income from selling the milk of morethan 20 of his murrah buffaloes. He also has a fertiliser shop jn the village. Since he lends money to farmers and other labourers, these labourers work regularly on his fields. Vijayakumar has another house in the nearby
town in which his wife and children live.

1) How much money did Vijayakumar borrow from a bank ?
Answer:
He borrowed Rs. 25 lakhs.

2) What did he buy ?
Answer:
He bought the harvester and thresher.

3) How many murrah buffaloes does he have ?
Answer:
He has 20 murrah buffaloes.

4) How does he help small fanners ?
Answer:
He has a fertiliser shop in the village. He lends farmers and other labourers in times of need.

5) How many bore wells does Vijayakumar have to irrigate his 25 acres of land ?
Answer:
He has three boreweils to irrigate his 25 acres of land.

IV. Reflection on Contemporary Issues and Questioning

Question 1.
How is Vijayakumar able to wait for higher prices before selling while small farmers have to sell it at low price ?
Answer:
Vijayakumar is a big farmer. He is able to wait for higher prices. He has a large “kallam” or threshing floor, used to dry the harvest. He has a godown-like large1 shed to keep paddy, fertilizer bags and other farming equipments. Since the fresh groundnut during the season sells for lower price, he usually dries it and sells af’er a few months.

Traders generally pay a higher price for dried groundnut. He has 25 acres of land with three bore wells. He has a thresher and a tractor trailer. He has more than 20 murrah buffaloes whose milk he sells. He also has a fertilizer shop in the village.

Question 2.
Why is it not possible for Ramu to grow two or three crops a year ?
Answer:
Ramu owns two acres of land which depends upon the village tank for irrigation. However, a few big farmers divert tank water to their fields and don’t bother whether or not Ramu’s land is irrigated. Four years back. Ramu dug bore well by borrowing money from Vijayakumar. No water was found even after digging up to 300 feet.

He now has to pay back the loan. He cultivates his land only during the Kharif season with the help of his family members. Since the income from his fields is not sufficient to run the family for more than three months in a year, he works on Vijayakumar’s fields.

Question 3.
What are the problems of agricultural labourers ?
Answer:
They not only face lack of jobs in rural areas but their wages are not going up. Government employment schemes provide relief but not for many days in a year. Their families are left with no option but to look for work outside villages or move to urban areas. Nearly two-fifths of all rural families are mainly agricultural labourers in Telangana Of these, hardly a few have small plots of land and the rest are landless.

VI. Appreciation and Sensitivity

Question 1.
Why are fanners entering into contract with companies for production and supply of some special crops ?
Answer:
Some farmers have tried to get out of this problem by entering into contract with companies for production and supply of some special crops. Although not widespread in some parts of Telangana companies have made contracts with farmers to cultivate crops such as paddy, maize, groundnut, cotton, soyabean, palm oil, coconut, amla, chilli and cucumber.

In contract farming, companies advise farmers to follow specific farming practices and also provide financial support. They buy the harvest at pre-determined price and pay the farmers after deducting the input costs. The companies use the produce as a raw material for making their own products.

Project:

Question 1.
Interview a small farmer and a big farmer with the help of your teacher. Find out about the condition of their farming practices – how many acres they cultivate, what they grow, how they sell it, what problems do they face, etc. Compare these details with what we found in Venkatapuram.
Answer:
Student’s self exercise.

Question 2.
In case your school is in a big city, prepare a list of occupations of families in your street or in your colony. Classify them into three groups : Self – employed, casual labourers and regular salaried employees. Discuss the details in your class.
Answer:
Student’s self exercise.

TS 6th Class Social 7th Lesson Notes – Agriculture in Our Times

Agricultural labourers : Persons who work in other’s fields and depends on agriculture for their livelihood.
Money lender : A person whose business is lending money, usually at a high rate of interest
Cash crops : Crops that are grown for commercial purpose.
Small farmers : Farmers having small holdings of land.
Contract farming : In contract farming, companies advise farmers to follow specific farming practices and also provide
financial support. They buy the harvest at pre-determined price and pay the farmers after deducting the input costs.
Pesticide : A chemical used for killing pests especially insects
Migration : The movement of large numbers of people, birds or animals from one place to another place
Kharif : Crop season (June to October)
Wages : A regular amount of money that you earn, usually every week, for work or services.
Cultivation : The preparation and use of land for growing plants or crops.
Household : All the people living together in a house.
Thresher : A machine used to separate grains from rice, wheat etc., from the rest of the plant (especially in the past, a
special tool used to separate grains from rice, wheat, from the rest of the plant by hitting it.)
Kallam : It is used to dry the harvest.
Godown : A large shed to keep paddy fertilizer bags and other farming equipments
Fertilizer : A substance added to soil to make plants grow more successfully
Rabi : Crop season (November to March)

Mind Mapping: