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Land is an important natural resource, serving as storage for water and nutrients used by plants and other living organisms.
It is the improvement and productivity of land that sustains the demand for food, energy and other human requirement. India ranks seventh in the world in terms of land area and second in terms of population. More specifically, India has about 2 per cent of the world’s geographical area, and 1.5 per cent of the world’s forest and pasture lands—which have to support 18 per cent of the world’s human population and 15 per cent of world livestock population.
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About 43 per cent of the land area, formed of plains, provides opportunity for cultivation. The mountainous areas, accounting for about 30 per cent of the surface area of the country, are storehouses of natural resources; they are also important for their scenic beauty and ecological aspects.
The plateau area covers about 27 per cent of the total area. It has rich reserves of mineral resources besides forests and arable lands. The mountains and plateaus also have fertile river valleys offering favourable locations for human concentration.
However, land is a limited resource, and the increasing human and animal population has reduced the availability of land over the years. The per capita availability of land was 0.89 hectare in 1951; it declined to 0.37 hectare in 1991 and is projected to go down to 0.20 hectare by 2035.
Favourable Features:
1. India is endowed with a long crop-growing season except in the mountainous regions—this has made our land more valuable from the point of view of crop and natural vegetation.
2. A long crop-growing season also means a wide variety of crops.
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3. The vast landmass of the country is endowed with a diversity of soils, owing to differences in geomorphology, climate, vegetation and topography.
Each soil type has its characteristics, suitable for different economic purposes.
4. There is a large reservoir of surface water in perennial rivers.
Unfavourable Feature:
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1. The availability of moisture is a restraining factor. The moisture supply through monsoon rainfall is concentrated during three-four months.
2. The rainy season is also the summer season, when the temperatures are generally high. This results in a loss of moisture through evaporation. Also, higher intensity of rainfall induces higher run-off and flooding in the rivers. A large area of the country gets inadequate or deficient rainfall.
3. The uneven distribution of rainfall also creates problems for plant growth.
4. Almost all the soil types of the country are deficient in either organic matter or moisture or both.
5. In view of the spatial as well as temporal variations of rainfall, irrigation is the only source of assured water supply for stable yields from cultivation.