The Agriculture optional syllabus for the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) Civil Services Main Examination covers a wide range of topics related to agriculture and its various aspects. Here’s an outline of the syllabus:
Paper-I:
- Agricultural extension: Its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programmes, socio-economic survey and status of farmers, farm families, rural communities.
- Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources: Their sustainable management and conservation. Physical and social environment as factors of crop distribution and production.
- Agroecology:
- Concepts and principles.
- Agroecosystems.
- Agroecology and sustainable agriculture.
- Cropping patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country:
- Cropping systems: Types and problems.
- Agricultural productivity: Concepts and measurements.
- Water management:
- Types of irrigation, sources of irrigation, crop-water requirements, command area development, water conservation techniques, micro-irrigation, wastewater irrigation, sustainable water management.
- Farm management and agribusiness:
- Farm management.
- Agricultural marketing: Scope and importance, methods of agricultural marketing.
- Agricultural finance and marketing:
- Agriculture: Definition, meaning, and its branches.
- Agronomic principles applied in the preparation of field layout, seedbed preparation, sowing, planting, transplanting, and spacing.
- Agricultural marketing and marketable surplus:
- Price fluctuations and their cost, marketing of principal crops.
Paper-II:
- Cell structure and function:
- Elements of plant anatomy and physiology.
- Plant growth and development.
- History of plant breeding:
- Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques, breeding for disease and pest resistance, role of mutations in crop improvement.
- Seed technology:
- Seed testing, vigor tests, seed certification, seed production, seed processing, seed storage.
- Watershed management:
- Rainwater harvesting.
- Preparation of watershed projects.
- Diseases and pests of field crops:
- Causes and classification of plant diseases.
- Principles of plant pathology, integrated pest and disease management.
- Post-harvest technology:
- Definition and scope.
- Importance and principles of crop processing.
- Remote sensing and its application in agriculture:
- Principles, instrumentation, and applications.
- Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS).
- Land surveying techniques:
- Linear measurements.
- Surveying instruments.
This syllabus provides an overview of the topics covered under the Agriculture optional subject for the UPSC Civil Services Main Examination. Candidates should refer to the latest syllabus and recommended study materials provided by the UPSC and other reliable sources for detailed preparation.
