(a) Differentiate between Intensive Subsistence and Plantation Farming.

Intensive subsistence farming:

(i) This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land.

(ii) It is labour –intensive.

(iii) Biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.

(iv) Farmers take maximum output from the limited land in the absence of alternative sources.

(v) Enormous pressure on land.

(vi) Produce is used for their local consumption.

Plantation Farming:

(i) It is a type of commercial farming.

(ii) In this type of farming single crop is grown on a large area.

(iii) It is capital intensive

(iv) Plantation has an interface of agriculture and industry. Chemicals and fertilisers are used.

(v) Practised on large tracts of land.

(vi) All the produce is used as raw material in respective industries.

(b) Differentiate between Kharif and Zaid cropping seasons.

(b) Kharif Cropping Season:

(i) Crops are grown with the onset of monsoon in different parts of the country and these are harvested in September-October.

(ii) Important crops grown during this season are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.

(iii)Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

(iv) Kharif crops require hot weather and good rainfall.

Zaid Cropping Season:

(i)In between the rabi and the kharif cropping seasons, there is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season.

(ii) Some of the crops produced during Zaid season are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops. Sugarcane takes almost a year to grow.

(iii) Major crops, a variety of food and non- food crops, are grown in different parts of the country depending upon the variations in soil, climate and cultivation practices.