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    Cropping Patterns and Major Crops of India: Part One

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    Paras Patel
    India has three main cropping seasons - Rabi (October-June), Kharif (June-October), and Zaid (March-July between Rabi and Kharif). The major food crops grown are rice, wheat, millets, maize and pulses. Rice and wheat are the top two cereals grown, with West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh being the largest rice and wheat producers respectively. Millets like jowar are grown in rainfed areas and are nutritious. Maize and pulses are important sources of protein. The government supports these crops through various initiatives to boost production.

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    Cropping Patterns and Major Crops of India: Part One

    Uploaded by

    Paras Patel
    39 views10 pages
    India has three main cropping seasons - Rabi (October-June), Kharif (June-October), and Zaid (March-July between Rabi and Kharif). The major food crops grown are rice, wheat, millets, maize and pulses. Rice and wheat are the top two cereals grown, with West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh being the largest rice and wheat producers respectively. Millets like jowar are grown in rainfed areas and are nutritious. Maize and pulses are important sources of protein. The government supports these crops through various initiatives to boost production.

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    Indian Geography

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    cropping-patterns-and-major-crops-of-india-part-one

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    India has three main cropping seasons - Rabi (October-June), Kharif (June-October), and Zaid (March-July between Rabi and Kharif). The major food crops grown are rice, wheat, millets, maize and pulses. Rice and wheat are the top two cereals grown, with West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh being the largest rice and wheat producers respectively. Millets like jowar are grown in rainfed areas and are nutritious. Maize and pulses are important sources of protein. The government supports these crops through various initiatives to boost production.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    39 views10 pages

    Cropping Patterns and Major Crops of India: Part One

    Uploaded by

    Paras Patel
    India has three main cropping seasons - Rabi (October-June), Kharif (June-October), and Zaid (March-July between Rabi and Kharif). The major food crops grown are rice, wheat, millets, maize and pulses. Rice and wheat are the top two cereals grown, with West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh being the largest rice and wheat producers respectively. Millets like jowar are grown in rainfed areas and are nutritious. Maize and pulses are important sources of protein. The government supports these crops through various initiatives to boost production.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 10

    Cropping Patterns and Major Crops of India: Part One

    drishtiias.com/printpdf/cropping-patterns-and-major-crops-of-india-part-one

    Two-thirds of India’s population is engaged in agricultural activities. It is a primary activity,


    which produces food grains and raw materials for industries. India is geographically a vast
    country so it has various food and non-food crops which are cultivated in three main
    cropping seasons which are rabi, kharif and zaid.

    Major crops can be classified into-

    Food crops- Rice, Wheat, Millets, Maize and Pulses.


    Cash crops- Sugarcane, Oilseeds, Horticulture crops, Tea, Coffee, Rubber, Cotton and
    Jute.

    Cropping Seasons

    S. Cropping Time Crops States


    No Season Period

    1. Rabi Sown: Wheat, barley, peas, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal


    October- gram, mustard etc. Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,
    December Uttarakhand and Uttar
    Harvested: Pradesh
    April-June

    2. Kharif Sown: June- Rice, maize, jowar, Assam, West Bengal, coastal
    July bajra, tur, moong, regions of Odisha, Andhra
    Harvested: urad, cotton, jute, Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil
    September- groundnut, soybean Nadu, Kerala and
    October etc. Maharashtra

    1/10
    3. Zaid Sown and Seasonal fruits, Most of the northern and
    harvested: vegetables, fodder northwestern states
    March-July crops etc.
    (between
    Rabi and
    Kharif)

    Major Food Crops

    Rice

    2/10
    Temperature: Between 22-32°C with high humidity.
    Rainfall: Around 150-300 cm.
    Soil Type: Deep clayey and loamy soil.
    Top Rice Producing States: West Bengal > Punjab > Uttar Pradesh > Andhra
    Pradesh > Bihar.
    It is the staple food crop of majority of Indian people.
    India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.
    In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a
    year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro.

    3/10
    National Food Security Mission, Hybrid Rice Seed Production and Rashtriya
    Krishi Vikas Yojana are few government initiatives to support rice cultivation.

    Wheat

    Temperature: Between 10-15°C (Sowing time) and 21-26°C (Ripening & Harvesting)
    with bright sunlight.
    Rainfall: Around 75-100 cm.
    Soil Type: Well-drained fertile loamy and clayey loamy (Ganga-Satluj plains and black
    soil region of the Deccan)
    4/10
    Top Wheat Producing States: Uttar Pradesh > Punjab > Madhya Pradesh >
    Haryana > Rajasthan.
    India is the second largest producer after China.
    This is the second most important cereal crop and the main food crop, in north
    and north-western India.
    Success of Green Revolution contributed to the growth of Rabi crops especially
    wheat.
    Macro Management Mode of Agriculture, National Food Security Mission and
    Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana are few government initiatives to support wheat
    cultivation.

    Millets (Nutri-Cereals)

    5/10
    Temperature: Between 27-32°C
    Rainfall: Around 50-100 cm.
    Soil Type: Can be grown in inferior alluvial or loamy soil because they are less
    sensitive to soil deficiencies.
    Jowar- Rain-fed crop grown in the moist areas with less or no irrigation.
    Bajra- Sandy soils and shallow black soil.
    Ragi- Red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils. (dry regions)

    6/10
    Top Millets Producing States: Rajasthan > Karnataka > Maharashtra > Madhya
    Pradesh > Uttar Pradesh
    Jowar: Maharashtra > Karnataka > Madhya Pradesh > Tamil Nadu > Andhra
    Pradesh.
    Bajra: Rajasthan > Uttar Pradesh > Gujarat > Madhya Pradesh > Haryana.
    These are also known as coarse grains, which have high nutritional value. Ragi is
    very rich in iron, calcium, other micro nutrients and roughage.
    Jowar is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production.
    National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, Initiative for Nutritional Security
    through Intensive Millets Promotion are examples of government’s efforts to
    support millet production.

    Maize

    7/10
    Temperature: Between 21-27°C
    Rainfall: High rainfall.
    Soil Type: Old alluvial soil.
    Top Maize Producing States: Karnataka > Maharashtra > Madhya Pradesh > Tamil
    Nadu > Telangana
    India is the seventh largest producer worldwide.
    It is used both as food and fodder.
    Use of modern inputs such as High-Yielding Variety seeds, fertilisers and irrigation
    have contributed to the increasing production of maize.
    Technology Mission on Maize is one of the government’s initiatives for mazie.
    8/10
    Pulses

    Temperature: Between 20-27°C


    Rainfall: Around 25-60 cm.
    Soil Type: Sandy-loamy soil.
    Top Pulses Producing States: Madhya Pradesh > Rajasthan > Maharashtra > Uttar
    Pradesh > Karnataka.
    India is the largest producer as well as the consumer of pulses in the world.
    These are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.
    Major pulses grown in India are tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas and gram.
    9/10
    Being leguminous crops, all these crops except arhar help in restoring soil fertility by
    fixing nitrogen from the air. Therefore, these are mostly grown in rotation with
    other crops.
    National Food Security Mission for Pulses, Pulses Development Scheme and
    Technological Mission on Pulses are few of the government’s plans to support
    pulses production.

    NOTE: Cash Crops will be covered in the Cropping Patterns and Major Crops of India: Part Two.

    10/10

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