Question

Intensive cultivation of rice has led to___.
a)Land upgradation
b)Land degradation
c)Less production
d)Shortage of food

Answer 1

Hint: Rice is one of the main food crops around the world. Rice grows well in tropical and humid climates. It needs long sunshine hours, adequate supply of water and high humidity for good yield.

Complete answer: India ranks second in production of rice in the world. The states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are leading producers of rice. Since rice is a staple crop in a large part of the country, rice is grown intensively in many states.

Let us look at the options given to us
Option A- Land upgradation or improvement in quality in quality of land is not a consequence of intensive rice cultivation. Land’s quality can be improved by measures like strip farming where different crops are grown in strips in one field. Crop rotation, instead of just growing rice, can also help improve quality of land.
Option B-Land degradation means loss of fertility, productive capacity and vegetation cover of soil. Land degradation changes the characteristics of the soil and might pollute it too.
Intensive cultivation of rice causes land degradation. Rice is a water intensive crop and requires irrigation. Excessive irrigation and poor drainage ultimately increases soil salinity. Intensive agriculture also leads to increase in use of fertilizers which leads to pollution of the soil.
Option C-Less production is not a consequence of intensive rice cultivation because the whole point of cultivating rice intensively is to reduce fallow ratio, increase input so that output is increased.
Option D- Shortage of food is not a consequence of intensive rice cultivation as when input is increased and fallow ratio decreases, crop yield per unit land area increases and this helps in preventing food shortage.

Therefore option B is correct.

Note: Rice is a water intensive crop. It was introduced in states of Punjab and Haryana under the Green revolution. However intensive cultivation of rice in these states have led to depletion of ground water in these states.