Types of Farming in India: Subsistence, Commercial, Organic and More

Introduction

Farming in India ranges from a family clearing a forest patch in the north-east hills to a tea estate in Assam and a mechanised wheat farm in Punjab. The way people farm depends on the land, the rainfall, the market and the money they can invest.

Quick answer: NCERT's Class 10 geography textbook describes three main types of farming in India: primitive subsistence farming (shifting or slash-and-burn cultivation), intensive subsistence farming and commercial farming, with plantation farming as a type of commercial farming. Farming is also grouped by method and water supply, which gives types such as mixed, dry, terrace, organic, natural and precision farming.

This guide explains each type with examples from India, and compares the ones students most often mix up.

Table of Contents

1. Types of Farming in India at a Glance
2. How Farming Types Are Classified
3. Primitive Subsistence Farming (Shifting Cultivation)
4. Intensive Subsistence Farming
5. Commercial Farming
6. Plantation Farming
7. Subsistence vs Commercial Farming
8. Mixed Farming
9. Dry, Dryland and Rainfed Farming
10. Terrace Farming
11. Organic Farming
12. Natural Farming
13. Precision Farming and Hydroponics
14. Studying Farming Systems
15. Key Takeaways
16. FAQs

Types of Farming in India at a Glance

Type of farming	What it means	Example in India
Primitive subsistence	Slash-and-burn farming on small plots with simple tools, for the family's own needs	Jhumming in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland
Intensive subsistence	Heavy use of labour, inputs and irrigation on small holdings to feed the family	Densely populated farming regions
Commercial	Growing crops for sale with HYV seeds, fertilisers and pesticides	Rice in Punjab and Haryana
Plantation	A single crop on a large estate, supplying industry	Tea in Assam and North Bengal, coffee in Karnataka
Mixed	Crops and livestock on the same farm	Crop farms that also keep dairy cattle
Dry farming	Rain-dependent farming where annual rainfall is below 750 mm	Drought-tolerant crops in dry regions
Terrace	Fields cut as steps into hill slopes	Hill farming in the Himalayas
Organic	Farming without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides	Sikkim, fully organic since 2016
Natural	Chemical-free farming with inputs made on the farm	Supported by the National Mission on Natural Farming
Precision and hydroponics	Technology-led farming; hydroponics grows plants without soil	Sensor-guided fields, soil-less vegetable units

How Farming Types Are Classified

There is no single list of farming types, because farming can be grouped in several ways. The four most useful are:

• By purpose: subsistence farming (for the family) or commercial farming (for the market). This is the grouping NCERT uses.
• By water supply: rainfed or dry farming, and irrigated farming.
• By method: mixed, organic and natural farming, which differ in how fertility and pests are managed.
• By land and technology: terrace farming on slopes, and precision farming or hydroponics using modern tools.

One farm can belong to several groups at once. A rainfed hill farm can be terraced, organic and subsistence all together.

Primitive Subsistence Farming (Shifting Cultivation)

Primitive subsistence farming is still practised in a few pockets of India. It is done on small plots with simple tools such as the hoe, the dao and digging sticks, using family or community labour. It depends on the monsoon, the natural fertility of the soil and the right environmental conditions.

It is also called slash-and-burn agriculture. Farmers clear a patch of land and grow food crops on it. When the soil loses its fertility, they move to a fresh patch and let nature restore the old one. Because no fertilisers or modern inputs are used, productivity is low.

Shifting cultivation has different local names across India:

Local name	Region
Jhumming	Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland
Pamlou	Manipur
Dipa	Bastar, Chhattisgarh
Bewar or Dahiya	Madhya Pradesh
Podu or Penda	Andhra Pradesh
Pama Dabi, Koman or Bringa	Odisha
Kumari	Western Ghats
Valre or Waltre	South-eastern Rajasthan
Khil	Himalayan belt
Kuruwa	Jharkhand

The same practice is known as milpa in Mexico and Central America, conuco in Venezuela, roca in Brazil, masole in Central Africa, ladang in Indonesia and ray in Vietnam.

Intensive Subsistence Farming

Intensive subsistence farming is practised where population pressure on land is high. It is labour intensive, and farmers use high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation to get more from each plot.

The reason is the size of holdings. Land is divided among heirs in each generation, so plots keep shrinking until they are uneconomical. With few other ways to earn a living, families have to get the most they can out of very little land.

Commercial Farming

Commercial farming grows crops for sale. Its main feature is the use of higher doses of modern inputs, such as high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides, to raise productivity.

How commercial a crop is depends on the region. Rice is a commercial crop in Punjab and Haryana, but in Odisha it is mostly a subsistence crop. The minimum support prices announced for major crops each season shape what commercial farmers sow; our guide to kharif, rabi and zaid crops lists the crops covered.

Plantation Farming

Plantation farming is a type of commercial farming in which a single crop is grown over a large area. It sits where agriculture meets industry: plantations use capital-intensive inputs and migrant labour, and all of their produce goes to industry as raw material.

• Main plantation crops: tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane and banana.
• Tea: grown mainly in Assam and North Bengal.
• Coffee: grown mainly in Karnataka.

In the south, tea and coffee are grown on the laterite soils of the hills of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Our guide to the types of soil in India explains which soils suit which crops.

Subsistence vs Commercial Farming

Basis	Subsistence farming	Commercial farming
Purpose	To feed the farmer's family	To sell in the market
Size of holding	Usually small	Usually larger
Inputs	Simple tools and family labour; intensive farming adds fertiliser and irrigation	HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers, pesticides and machinery
Crops	A mix of food crops	Often one or two cash or food crops
Productivity	Low in primitive farming	High
Example	Jhumming in the north-east	Rice in Punjab and Haryana; tea estates in Assam

Mixed Farming

Mixed farming combines crops and livestock on the same farm. The land grows food and fodder crops, and the animals give milk, draught power and manure that goes back into the soil. Spreading income across crops and animals also lowers the risk from a single bad season.

Dry, Dryland and Rainfed Farming

Much of India's farming depends on rain rather than irrigation. One estimate puts the unirrigated area at 73 million of the country's 142 million hectares of net sown area, or about half. Farming without irrigation is grouped by how much rain falls in a year:

Type	Annual rainfall	What it involves
Dry farming	Below 750 mm	Conserving every bit of soil moisture and growing drought-tolerant crops
Dryland farming	Above 750 mm	Rainfed crops with some risk of dry spells; moisture conservation still matters
Rainfed farming	Above 1,150 mm	Rain is usually enough; the bigger problems are drainage and erosion

Terrace Farming

On steep hill slopes, farmers cut the land into a series of level steps, or terraces. Each step holds water and soil, so terraces reduce soil erosion and make it possible to farm land that would otherwise wash away. Terrace farming is common in the Himalayan states and other hilly regions.

Organic Farming

Organic farming grows crops without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, relying instead on compost, manure, crop rotation and biological pest control.

• Sikkim: became India's first fully organic state in 2016.
• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY): launched in 2015, it promotes organic farming through clusters of farmers and Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification.
• Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region: launched in 2015 to build certified organic production in the north-eastern states.

Natural Farming

Natural farming is chemical-free farming based on agro-ecology. It integrates crops, trees and livestock and relies on inputs that farmers prepare on the farm, often from the dung and urine of indigenous desi cows.

The Government of India launched the National Mission on Natural Farming in November 2024 as a standalone centrally sponsored scheme, with an outlay of ₹2,481 crore. It aims to reach 1 crore farmers and bring 7.5 lakh hectares under natural farming through 15,000 clusters.

Precision Farming and Hydroponics

• Precision farming: uses sensors, satellite data and machinery to apply water, seed and fertiliser only where and when they are needed. Read more in our post on precision farming.
• Hydroponics: grows plants without soil, with their roots in a nutrient solution. It suits leafy vegetables and herbs in protected structures, including in cities.
• Protected cultivation: polyhouses and shade nets let farmers control temperature and moisture and grow high-value vegetables and flowers out of season.

For more on how technology is changing farms, see our guide to sustainable agriculture and farm technology.

Studying Farming Systems

Farming systems are at the centre of the B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture programme at SGT University, a four-year degree accredited by ICAR. Students work on a research and demonstration farm of more than 55 acres, and the faculty's labs include a hydroponic lab for soil-less farming, a mushroom unit and a nursery.

Students who want to specialise can continue with:

• M.Sc. Agriculture in Agronomy, for crop production and farming systems
• M.Sc. Horticulture in Fruit Science, for orchards and plantation-style fruit crops
• MBA in Agri-Business, for the commercial side of farming

If you are planning a career in the field, read about government jobs after B.Sc Agriculture and the importance of horticulture in India, or learn more about the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.

Key Takeaways

• NCERT describes three main types of farming in India: primitive subsistence, intensive subsistence and commercial, with plantation farming as a type of commercial farming.
• Shifting cultivation has many local names, such as jhumming in the north-east and podu in Andhra Pradesh.
• Rice is a commercial crop in Punjab and Haryana but mostly a subsistence crop in Odisha.
• Dry farming is practised where annual rainfall is below 750 mm.
• Sikkim became India's first fully organic state in 2016.
• The National Mission on Natural Farming, launched in November 2024, aims to reach 1 crore farmers.

FAQs

Q1. What are the main types of farming in India?
NCERT's Class 10 geography textbook describes three main types: primitive subsistence farming, intensive subsistence farming and commercial farming, with plantation farming as a type of commercial farming. Other common types include mixed, dry, terrace, organic, natural and precision farming.

Q2. What is subsistence farming?
Subsistence farming is farming mainly to feed the farmer's own family, with little left over to sell. In India it takes two forms: primitive subsistence farming, done with simple tools on small plots, and intensive subsistence farming, where heavy inputs are used to get the most from small holdings.

Q3. What is jhum cultivation?
Jhum, or jhumming, is the name for slash-and-burn shifting cultivation in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. Farmers clear and burn a patch of forest, grow food crops, and move to a fresh patch when the soil loses its fertility.

Q4. What are the other names of shifting cultivation in India?
Shifting cultivation is called pamlou in Manipur, dipa in Bastar (Chhattisgarh), bewar or dahiya in Madhya Pradesh, podu or penda in Andhra Pradesh, pama dabi, koman or bringa in Odisha, kumari in the Western Ghats, valre or waltre in south-eastern Rajasthan, khil in the Himalayan belt and kuruwa in Jharkhand.

Q5. What is commercial farming? Give an example.
Commercial farming grows crops for sale, using high doses of modern inputs such as high-yielding variety seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Rice grown in Punjab and Haryana is an example: it is a commercial crop there, while in Odisha it is mostly a subsistence crop.

Q6. What is plantation farming?
Plantation farming is a type of commercial farming in which a single crop is grown over a large area, with capital-intensive inputs and migrant labour, and the produce goes to industry as raw material. Tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane and banana are important plantation crops in India.

Q7. What is the difference between organic and natural farming?
Organic farming avoids synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and can use organic inputs bought from outside the farm. Natural farming goes further: it relies on inputs that farmers prepare on the farm, often from the dung and urine of desi cows, and integrates crops, trees and livestock.

Q8. Which is the first organic state in India?
Sikkim became the first fully organic state in India in 2016.

Q9. What is dry farming?
Dry farming is the growing of crops in areas with annual rainfall below 750 mm, without irrigation. It depends on conserving soil moisture and on drought-tolerant crops.

Q10. What is mixed farming?
Mixed farming combines growing crops with rearing livestock on the same farm. The land produces food and fodder crops, and the animals provide milk, draught power and manure that goes back to the fields.