NCERT Solutions for Class 5 EVS Chapter 19 A Seed Tells A Farmers Story

QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED

Tell
1.Are rotis made in your home? From which grains are they made?
Ans. Yes, rotis are made in my home. They are usually made from wheat and sometimes from maize.

2.Have you eaten roti made from bajra and jowar? Did you like these?
Ans. Yes, I have eaten roti made from bajra and jowar. They were tasty.

Find Out and Write
1.In your house what is done to protect grains and pulses from insects?
Ans. My mother keeps grains and pulses in air-tight containers. Sometimes, she dries them in the sun.

2.Which are the different festivals related to farming celebrated in different seasons? Find out more about any one such festival and write in your notebook— The name of the festival, in which season is it celebrated, in which states of India, what special foods are made, is it celebrated only at home with the family, or together with many people?
Ans. There are many festivals related to farming, e.g. Lohri, Holi, Baisakhi, etc. Let us take example of Lohri.
Lohri is celebrated in the winter season; on 13th January, in Punjab. It is celebrated by different names in different states. It is celebrated as Poiigal in Tamil Nadu. It is celebrated as Yella Bella in Karnataka. Different special dish
are made in different states. Sesame seeds and jaggery are’commonIn almost all states. In some states it is celebrated with many people; like in Punjab. In some states it is celebrated in family only. Kite flying is done in Gujarat on this day.

3.Talk to the elders in your family and find out if there were some special foods cooked earlier, that are not cooked any more.
Ans. My mother shared with me that earlier; laddoos of sesame seed and of beaten rice were made in home. Now, we just buy ‘gajak’ from the market.

4.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?
Ans. Many crops like wheat, maize, rice, potatoes, mangoes, litchi, etc. are grown in my area. Of these litchi is famous across the country.

5.Can you recognise these grains?
Ans.

Discuss
1.The bajra seed saw differences in the way Damjibhai and Hasmukh did farming
(for example, in irrigation, ploughing, etc.). What were these differences?
Ans. Damjibhai did farming in a different way than how Hasmukh did.
Damjibhai followed the traditional methods of farming. He used bullocks to plough the field. He stored grains to be used as seeds. Hasmukh, on the other hand started using new methods of farming. He bpught a tractor to plough the field. He also bought a motorcycle. He stopped grdwing those crops which did not fetch good price in the market. He need not store grains to be used as seeds because he could buy seeds from the market. Expensive fertilizers were used for farming.

2.Hasmukh said, “With profits from our fields, we can progress”. What is your understanding of ‘progress’?
Ans. Progress means a better lifestyle. People get better houses to live in. They get more nutritious food to eat. Children get better schooling. Houses have all modern gadgets like TV, fridge, radio, etc. People may buy a vehicle for personal transport.

Write
1.What kind of progress would you like to see in your area?
Ans. I would like to see following progress in my area:
(a) Better roads
(b) All around cleanliness with no overflowing drain
(c) A good public transport system
(d) A big park and playground where children can play and others can do some recreation.

Discuss and Think
1.What can happen to Hasmukh’s farm after some years?
Ans. Hasmukh’s farm will lose fertility after some years because Hasmukh is using chemical fertilizers. Hasmukh is in danger of falling in debt trap as he has taken loans to buy tractor, seeds and fertilizers. In future he may not be able to properly work on his farm.

2.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?
Ans. Paresh could see that his father was running into losses. Farming had become a capital intensive activity with little profit. Hence, Paresh would have decided to switch to a new occupation.

3.The seeds were not sure that what Hasmukh was talking about was really progress? What do you feel?
Ans. I think the seeds were correct in their thinking. New method of agriculture tend to overexploit the soil and other resources. This leads to loss of fertility of soil which may result in the land becoming barren. Too much irrigation depletes the groundwater and thus leaves little water for future. A machine can do the work of many people which leaves many people jobless.
Apparently it looks like progress, but it is not the real progress.

4.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?
Ans. Yes, there are many changes which may not be called progress in the real sense. Let us take example of growing number of vehicles on the road. More vehicles have made travel easier but it is also leading to air pollution. Similarly, many factories are coming up near some cities and villages. These factories produce goods for people but they also create lot of air and water pollution. Some machines have been invented which can do the job of thousands of people and thus make thousands of people jobless. Many gadgets in our home have made us dependent on them. We are becoming more lethargic.

Project
1.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?
Ans. An example of the questionnaire is given below:
Student: Since how long you have been farming?
Farmer: I have been farming for the last 20 years.
Student: Which are the main crops you grow in your field?
Farmer: I usually grow rice and wheat.
Student: Which are the other crops you grow in your field?
Farmer: I also grow maize, mustard and some vegetables.
Student: How do you irrigate your field?
Farmer: I use the water from the canal.

2.Visit a farm near your area. Observe and talk to the people there. Write a report.
Ans. One of my friends has a farm on the outskirts of the city. There is a big house at one edge of the farm. The house has a big courtyard. There is a tractor, a threshing machine and many small farm equipments kept outside the house. There are 5-6 people who live permanently at my friend’s farm. They have been working on this farm since last many years. At present the whole farm is full of mustard crops. It presents a beautiful landscape of yellow and green colours. There is a small orchard also in the farm. It has trees of many fruits like mango, guava, pomegranate, lemon, etc. I can also see many packets of synthetic fertilizers kept in the farmhouse. There are some jars of insecticides kept in a comer.

Journey of a Bajra Seed—From a Field to a Plate
1.What can you see in each picture? 
Ans. Picture 1: A lad is separating and taking out the cobs from the bajra crops.
Picture 2: The bajra cob is kept in a mortar. It will be punded by a pestle to separate grains from the cobs.
Picture 3: Bajra seeds are kept in a plate.
Picture 4: A lady is grinding bajra seeds to make flour. She is using chakki (grinding stone) for that.
Picture 5: Bajra flour is kept in a plate.
Picture 6: Dough has been made from bajra flour.
Picture 7: Chapatti is being made from dough.
Picture 8: Chapatti is being cooked on tawa.
Picture 9: Chapattis kept in a plate.

2.What technology could have been used to cut the stem in picture 1?
Ans. The stem, is usually cut by a sickle.

3.What do you think is being done in the grinder (chakki) in picture 4?
Ans. Flour is being made in the grinder

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.
Ans. In most of the households, making dough does not involve using technologies. Ladies simply use the age old method of kneading the dough by bare hands. 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.

What We Have Learnt
1.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.
Ans. There have been many changes in our food. Earlier, people used to eat chapatti of different kinds of grains but now wheat is the main ingredient of chapatti. My mother says that when she was a child, her father used to buy wheat grains. The wheat grains were washed and dried in the sun. Then it was taken to a chakki to make flour. Now, we buy packed atta (flour) and I have seen wheat grains in pictures only. Most of the children of my age would not recognise a particular grain. For example; I was surprised when I learnt how does the rice grain look with cover on it.
Many of us now use instant food, instead of traditional food. I think people will fipfget how to cook some of the traditional dishes.

2.What would happen if all the farmers were to use only one kind of seed and grow only one kind of crop?
Ans. It will be a scary situation. We cannot survive by eating just one kind of crop. We need dal and sabji, along with rice. We cannot eat a diet which contains only rice or only chapatti. We need many other food to satisfy our taste or also our nutritional needs.