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PUNJAB
INDUSTRY
Info HistoryIndustryCities
Agriculture
Punjab
is one of the smallest states of India representing 1.6 per cent
of its geographical area and 2.6 per cent of it's cropped area.
Punjab's geology has a far reaching impact on its economy. The plain
of Punjab was formed by the deposition of alluvium. It has deep
and fertile soils. From geological and physiographic points Punjab
is divisible into two regions: the hill region and the plain region.
The
hill region is very small and includes Shivalik Hills on the eastern
side, moves through Hoshiarpur district toward west. More than 90
per cent of Punjab's area is a flat plain and is a segment of Indo-Gangetic
plain.
A
very high proportion of the land is under cultivation because the
Punjab plain is free from physical handicaps and deficiency of rainfall
has been made up by irrigation facilities. It is only the districts
of Ropar and Hoshiarpur that the cultivated area is less than 60
per cent of the total. It is in these districts that considerable
land is covered by Shivalik Hills and the beds of seasonal streams
that cannot be brought under cultivation.
Wheat,
Maize, Rice and Bajra are the important cereals of the state. Wheat
dominates the production amoung overall crop pattern . The distribution
of rice and bajra is localized. Rice is an important
crop in Gurdaspur,Amritsar and Kapurthala districts . Cotton leads
the production of cash crops of the state. Groundnut, Sugarcane
and Potatoes being other crops . Punjab tops the production of Wheat
in the country. It produces over 2 million tonnes of wheat every
year. The impact of the Green Revolution is perhaps most
affected the state of Punjab .This has made the country
self sufficient in the food needs, overcoming the dangerous situation
of early sixties, when we had to import food grains.
The
state of Punjab has built up a system of services to support agricultural
development. Briefly, these are the departments of Agriculture and
Animal Husbandry, the Punjab Agriculture University which
provides a base for education, research and extension; and the Cooperative
Department which provides credit to the farmers.
The
university situated in Ludhiana, has brought about a real revolution
in farming techniques and has contributed to increased agriculture
production and improvement of the cultivators' economic status.
This institution has developed high yielding varieties of wheat,
rice, bajra and other crops which has spearheaded Punjab to make
the state and the country self sufficient for many key crops.
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