NCERT Solutions for Class 5 EVS (Looking Around) Chapter 19 A Seed Tells a Farmer’s Story

NCERT
SOLUTIONS
CLASS - 5th

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Class : 5th
Subject : Environmental Studies
Chapter : 19
Chapter Name : A Seed Tells A Farmer’s Story

Q1 Are rotis made in your home? From which grains are they made?

Answer. Yes, rotis are made in my home. These are made of wheat or bajra grains.

Page : 175 , Block Name : Tell

Q2 Have you eaten roti made from bajra or jowar ? Did you like these?

Answer. Yes, I have eaten roti made from bajra or jowar. They are tasty to eat.

Page : 175 , Block Name : Tell

Q1 In your house what is done to protect grains and pulses from insects?

Answer. In my house the grains and pulses are kept in air tight containers to protect them against insects.

Page : 175 , Block Name : Find Out And Write

Q2 Which are different festivals related to farming celebrated in different seasons?
Find out more about anyone of such festivals and write in your notebook-
The name of the festival, in which season it is celebrated, in which states of India, what special food are
made, is it celebrated only at home with the family, or together with many people.

Answer. The different festivals related to farming that are celebrated in the different season are Basant
Panchami, Holi, Lohri, Baisakhi etc.
Basant Panchami: It is celebrated in the spring season. It is celebrated mainly in Punjab,Haryana, West
Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh. In this festival the special food that is prepared is yellow rice, kheer, sweet
rotis etc. It is celebrated by the people of different families together.

Page : 175 , Block Name : Find Out And Write

Q3 Talk to the elders in your family and find out if there were some special foods cooked earlier, that are
not cooked anymore?

Answer. After talking to the elders of my family I found that there were no special food items which
were made earlier and are not made any more.

Page : 175 , Block Name : Find Out And Write

Q4 Find out about the crops – cereals, vegetables, pulses – that are grown in your area. Of those, is there
anything that is famous across the country?

Answer. The crops grown commonly in our area are -Wheat, bajra, mushrooms, jowar etc. Out of these
mushrooms is well known everywhere.

Page : 176 , Block Name : Find Out And Write

Q1 The bajra seed saw differences in the way Damjibhai and Hasmukh did farming (for example, in
irrigation, ploughing, etc). What were these differences?

Answer. The differences in the way Damjibhai and Hasmukh did farming as noticed by the bajra seed
are as follows:
Dhamjibhai used to grow different kinds of crops – grains and vegetables according to the season. He
used to keep enough for his family and sold the rest to the shopkeepers from the city. Sometimes he also
grew some cotton. Also each year, he used to keep aside some seeds. But his son Hasmukh did farming
with a lot of differences. He bought new and modern equipment for farming. He put an electric motor to
pump water, a tractor to plough the field. He bought new varieties of seeds from the market; these were
easily affected by harmful insects. He used expensive fertilizers. He used to grow mainly those crops
which could be sold in the city to get a lot of profit. All these materials and equipment were very
expensive and whatever profit he earned from the city was used up to reply the loans taken by him for
the expensive machines and equipments.

Page : 177 , Block Name : Discuss

Q2 Hasmukh said, “With profits from our fields, we can progress.” What is your understanding of
‘progress’?

Answer. By progress, we understand, a better and improved standard of living, a good place and house
to live, better and good standard of food, better also those for entertainment like TV, radio etc. But
besides all these earning a high respect is a progress in real sense.

Page : 177 , Block Name : Discuss

Q1 What kind of progress would you like to see in your area?

Answer. I would like to see the following type of progress in my town on area:
(i) Good Schools
(ii) Big and well equipped hospitals
(iii) Better transportation and communication facilities
(iv) Good places for recreation and entertainment.

Page : 177 , Block Name : Write

Q1 What can happen to Hasmukh’s farm after some years?

Answer. As there was a lot of loss to Hasmukh’s due to farming and it had become difficult for him to
repay the bank loan. Thus, it seems after some years there would not be any agricultural activity on his
farms.

Page : 178 , Block Name : Discuss And Think

Q2 Damjibhai’s son Hasmukh chose to become a farmer like his father. Hasmukh’s son Paresh is not a
farmer, but a truck driver. Why would he have done so?

Answer. Paresh observed that his father was in great loss. Even the bank loans were yet to be repaid.
Also, farming had become very expensive. Therefore, in order to repay the bank loans and earn better he
started working as a truck driver.

Page : 179 , Block Name : Discuss And Think

Q3 The seeds were not sure that what Hasmukh was talking about was really progress. What do you
feel?

Answer. All new methods that were adopted by Hasmukh, actually resulted in his downfall. He bought
new varieties of seeds which were easily affected by harmful insects. He bought expensive fertilizers
and medicines for the crops which were giving off a bad smell and also affecting the soil texture. He
grew only those crops which could be sold in the market to gain more money. But since, all the farmers
started this, the price for these crops went down under the earth. Since all the farmers did the same, the
water level was going down under the earth. Since all the farmers did the same, the water level was
going down under the earth. Generally, there was so many loans to be repaid by him to the banks that
even his son to quit farming and work as a truck driver only to repay the loan. Therefore, his farming
work was not flourishing, rather it was coming to an end, and this is not progress.

Page : 179 , Block Name : Discuss And Think

Q4 Have there been any changes near your area, which may be difficult to call ‘progress’? What changes
are these? What are the different opinions about them?

Answer. Yes, there have been many changes around my area, which have been done for progress but
there are some losses associated with them due to which it is difficult to call them progress.
For example:
(1) Increased transportation has made it easier to reach to far off places. But it results in a lot of pollution
which cause serious health problems.
(2) A lot of electric machines and equipment have been made for many household works such as for
washing clothes, cutting vegetables, cleaning the houses etc. These help us to finish our work in less
time and do not require such labor. But this can cause obesity, joint problems because these do not
follow us to do any physical exercise and also make us lethargic.
(3) With the help of computers, much time consuming jobs can be finished in a very short time but this
has taken the jobs of many people.

Page : 179 , Block Name : Discuss And Think

Q1 What questions come to your mind about farmers and farming? Write some questions in your group
and ask a farmer. For example, how many crops do they grow in a year? Which crop needs how much
water?

Answer. Some of the questions and their answer as asked from a farmer:
Student: Since how long are you farming?
Farmer: I have been farming for about 15 years.
Student: What and how many crops do you grow usually in a year?
Farmer: I usually grow wheat, paddy, pulses, cotton etc.
Student: Which crop needs a lot of water?
Farmer: Paddy needs a lot of water.
Student: Do you use the factory made fertilizers?
Farmer: Yes, I use factory made fertilizers.
Student: From where you get the seeds? Do you store some seeds for next year?
Farmer: Sometimes, I get the seeds from the market and sometimes I store some seeds also for the next
year.

Page : 179 , Block Name : Project Work

Q2 Visit a farm near your area. Observe and talk to the people there. Write a report.

Answer. Someday back I went to my friend’s farm in Panipat along with few of my friends. It was one of
the best places I had ever been to. As we entered the farm, the view was very beautiful. The entire farm

was fenced with pink bougainvillea flowers and tall coconut trees. There was a wide variety of plants
such as, those of lemon, oranges, spinach, raddish, coriander etc. We could not resist, when we saw fresh
carrots rooted in the soil. We uprooted few of them. We were told by the farmers working there, that all
these plants have been grown without using any artificial fertilizers. He has been using earthworms for
this purpose. These earthworms dig the soil and make it soft and crumbly which is good for the plants.
The dead plants, leaves, stem, fruits are buried in a pit and earthworms are allowed to enter and these
automatically convert the waste into manure. This natural manure is very rich in minerals and good for
the soil. We enjoyed the visit and also get to learn many things.

Page : 179 , Block Name : Project Work

Q2 What technology could have been used to cut the stem in picture 1? What do you think is being done
in the grinder (chakki ) in picture 4? What ways (technologies) would have been used to do the work
shown in picture 5 and 6? You can see that the dough is ready in picture 6. When do you think a sieve
(chhalni ) would have been used? Discuss each step in detail, in any language you wish to use.

Answer. Picture 1 : The stem is cut in picture 1 by the help of big knife or cutter.
Picture 4 : Here the grinder is being used to grind the bajra seeds and obtain the bajra powder.
In most households, making dough does not involve using technologies. Ladies simply use the age old
method of kneading the dough by bare hands. Sieve would have been used in picture 5 to separate the
flour and the seek husk. Flour is usually sieved before making the dough. After that, water needs to be
added to the flour. People usually estimate the required amount of water for making dough. After
kneading for some time, the dough gets ready.

Page : 180 , Block Name : Journey Of A Bajra Seed–From A Field To A Plate

Q1 There have been many changes over time, in our food. What can this mean? Use the seed story and
what you know from your elders to explain.

Answer. There have been many changes in our food such as:
(i) Earlier people used to eat a variety of foods like bajra, jowar, wheat etc. but now we are eating mainly
wheat.
(ii) Earlier the old seeds were stored and grown in the next year. Now a days new variants of seeds are
grown and their products are quite different in taste.
(iii) Earlier the foods were eaten in very simple forms, not very much spicy and overheated.

(iv) Earlier, the traditional methods of irrigation, plugging etc. were used whereas now a days, new
methods of irrigation, plugging are being used.

Page : 181 , Block Name : What We Have Learnt

Q2 What would happen if all the farmers were to use only one kind of seed and grow only one kind of
crop?

Answer. If all the farmers will grow only one kind of seeds and crops, the price for these seeds and crops
would fall and there would be no profit to the farmers. Moreover, growing same kind of seeds and crop
on the same land will extract the same minerals from the soil each time and a result the soil will be
deprived of these minerals.

Page : 181 , Block Name : What We Have Learnt