Agro Based Industry - Concepts - Chapter 6 Class 10 Geography - Manufacturing Industries - Geography

Agro-based Industries

• Industries that are based on agricultural raw materials like cotton , jute , silk , woollen textiles , sugar and edible oil , etc.

Textile Industry

• The textile industry contributes significantly to industrial production , employment generation and foreign exchange earnings . 
• It is self-reliant and complete in the value chain i.e., from raw material to the highest value-added products.
• The first successful textile mill was established in Mumbai in 1854.

Cotton Industry

• In ancient India, cotton textiles were produced with hand spinning and handloom weaving techniques .
• After the 18th century , power looms came into use. 
• Our traditional industries suffered a setback during the colonial period because they could not compete with the mill-made cloth from England .
• In the early years, the cotton textile industry was concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat because of the availability of raw cotton , market , transport including accessible port facilities , labour , moist climate , etc. This industry has close links with agriculture and provides a living to
• farmers 
• cotton boll pluckers and 
• workers engaged in 
• ginning 
• Spinning
• Weaving
• Dyeing
• Designing
• packaging
• Tailoring
• sewing
• The industry by creating demands supports many other industries , such as chemicals and dyes , packaging materials and engineering works.
• While spinning continues to be in Maharashtra , Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, weaving is highly decentralised to provide scope for incorporating traditional skills and designs of weaving in cotton, silk, zari, embroidery , etc.
• India has world-class production in spinning , but weaving supplies low-quality fabric as it cannot use much of the high-quality yarn produced in the country. Weaving is done by handloom, power loom and in mills.
• The handspun khadi provides large-scale employment to weavers in their homes as a cottage industry .

Jute Textiles

• India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods and stands in second place as an exporter after Bangladesh . Most of the mills are located in West Bengal , mainly along the banks of the Hugli river .
• Factors responsible for their location in the Hugli basin are: 
  • the proximity of the jute-producing areas
• inexpensive water transport
  • supported by a good network of railways , roadways and waterways to facilitate the movement of raw materials to the mills
  • abundant water for processing raw jute , cheap labour from West Bengal and adjoining states of Bihar , Odisha and Uttar Pradesh .  
  • Kolkata as a large urban centre provides banking , insurance and port facilities for the export of jute goods .

Sugar Industry

• The raw material used in this industry is bulky , and in haulage its sucrose content reduces.
• India stands second as a world producer of sugar but occupies first place in the production of gur and khandsari .
• Sixty per cent of the sugar mills are mainly located in Uttar Pradesh , and Bihar rests in Punjab , Maharashtra , Karnataka , Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
• This industry is seasonal so it is ideally suited to the cooperative sector.
• In recent years, mills are shifting in the southern and western parts , especially in Maharashtra because of the higher sucrose content in cane and a cooler climate . Moreover, the cooperatives are more successful in these states.