AGRO- CLIMATIC ZONES OF INDIA

                Agro- climatic zones of India 

        The country has been divided into 15 agro climatic regions according to homogeneity in agro-characteristics such as soil , topography , rainfall , temperature , cropping and farming systems and water resources .

1. Western Himalayan Region: 

        It consists of three sub zones

        1- Jammu and Kashmir

        2- Himachal Pradesh

        3- Uttarpradesh Hills

•  Himalaya Region consists of skeletal soils of cold region , mountain meadow soils ,podsolic soils and hilly brown soils .
• They have steep slopes , undulating terrain,silty loam type soil .This region is more prone to erosion hazards and slips and slides .
• Crops like rice , maize , millets , wheat and barley are grown here but productivity level is lower than that of the all Indian average . Highest area under forest is fo
• nd in this region .

2. Eastern Himalayan Region:

•  This region have high rainfall and high forest cover . 
•  Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Darjeeling hills , Meghalaya , Manipur , Tripura ,Mizoram ,Assam , Jalpaiguri and coochbehar districts of West Bengal are under this region .
• Jhum or Shifting cultivation is practiced in nearly one hird of the cultivated area which leads to heavy runoff ,soil erosion and floods in lower reaches and basins .

3 .Lower Gangetic Plains: 

• It consists of four sub regions.
• 12% of country's rice production accounted from this region .
• Jute , mustard ,Rabi maize , Seamum and potato are new emerging crops of this region .

4. Middle  Gangetic Plains:

• Under this zone there are 27 districts of Bihar and 12 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh .
• According to soil heterogeneity ,land use , topography and climatic factors eastern Uttar Pradesh is further divided into nine regions .
• Rice is the principal crop but it's productivity is low due to salt affected ( usar ) lands and zinc deficiency .

5. Upper Gangetic Plains:

• The upper Gangetic Plains consists of 32 districts  which are divided into three sub zones of  Central , North West and south west U.P. 
• The cropping intensity of this area is 144%

6. Trans Gangetic Plains :

• Punjab , Haryana , Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh and Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan  comes under this  zone.
• Major features of this area are : highest irrigated area, highest net sown area , least poverty level  , high ground water utilisation and high cropping intensity (170%) .

7. Eastern Plateau and Hills : 

• This region consists of following sub regions-

1.   Sub- regions of  Wainganga , Madhya Pradesh  eastern hills ,inlands of Odisha .
2. Odisha Northern and M.P. Eastern Hills and Plateau .
3.  Chotanagpur North and Eastern Hills and Plateau.
4. Chotanagpur South and West Bengal Hills and Plateau .
5. Chhatisgarh and South Western Odisha  hills .

• Topography of this region is undulating with a slope of 1 to 10%  and rainfall is nearly 1300 mm.
• Most Soils are acidic , in kharif 82% of area is under rice cultivation .

8. Central Plateau and Hills :

• This zone consists of  Uttar Pradesh , Rajasthan and 46 districts of Madhya Pradesh .
•  Per capita land availability is very high (0.446 ha ).
• 
  

9. Western Plateau and Hills :

• This zone is divided into four sub zones , and comprises of parts of Maharashtra , Madhya Pradesh and one district of Rajasthan .
• This area is best known for good quality oranges ,grapes and bananas .

10. Southern Plateau and Hills : 

• The southern Plateau and Hills comprises of Parts of Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Tamilnadu . These areas are typically semi -arid zones .

11. East Coast Plains and Hills :

• This zone consists of six sub-zones 

1. Odisha coastal
2. North coastal Andhra and Ganjam
3. South coastal Andhra 
4. North coastal Tamilnadu
5. Thanjavur
6. South coastal Tamilnadu

• This area lacks irrigation facilities .
• Rice and groundnut are important crops .
• This zone have 2000km of coastline and many inland waterways .

12. West Coast Plains and Ghats : 

•  This is an important zone for plantation crops ,spices and fisheries  which covers  parts of Tamilnadu ,Kerala , Karanatak , Maharashtra and Goa .
• Cropping intensity 124%.

13. Gujarat Plains and Hills: 

• This zone is divided into seven sub- zones  consistin of 19 districts of Gujarat.
• The cropping intensity is 114% and 60% of the zone is under drought prone area .

14. Western Dry Region :

•  This zone is characterized by erratic rainfall , hot sandy desert ,high evaporation , scanty vegetation and no perennial rivers .
• Nine districts of Rajasthan comes under this zone 
• Famine and drought prone area due to less rainfall ( avg - 395mm) , cropping intensity 105%.

15. Islands Regions : 

•  This zone consists of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Island territories .
• The smallest zone with high literacy rate .
• Rainfall is around 3000mm .

Ref - Agro-Climatic Regional Planning in India .Vol. I(concepts and applications)