Major Crops of India

Agri + Culture = Agriculture

 Agriculture is made up of two words - ‘Ager’ + ‘culture’

‘Ager’ means Soil and
‘Culture’ means Cultivation.
 Agriculture is defined as the art, science and business of producing
crops and livestock for economic purpose.
 Livestock, fisheries, poultry etc. also comes under the allied
agricultural activities.
• India is an agriculturally important country. Two-thirds of India’s
population dependent on agriculture.
• It is an age-old economic activity in our country.
• The transformation from a plant to a finished product involves three
types of economic activities. These are primary, secondary and
tertiary activities. Agriculture is a primary activity, which produces
most of the food that we consume.
• It includes growing crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers and rearing of
livestock.
• It also produces raw materials for various industries.

Major crops can be classified into

• The agricultural crop year in India
is from July to June. The Indian
cropping season is classified into
three main seasons of cultivation:

Cropping
S. No Time Period Crops States
Season
1. Rabi Sown: October-December Wheat, barley, peas, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal
Harvested: April-June gram, mustard etc. Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,
Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh

2. Kharif Sown: June-July Rice, maize, jowar, Assam, West Bengal, coastal
Harvested: September- bajra, tur, moong, urad, regions of Odisha, Andhra
October cotton, jute, groundnut, Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil
soybean etc. Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra
3. Zaid Sown and harvested: Seasonal fruits, Most of the northern and
March-July vegetables, fodder crops northwestern states
(between Rabi and Kharif) etc.
Crop Classification Based on Climate

Classification Based on Life of Crops/Duration of Crops

Crop Classification based on the type of produce

Food Crops Rice, wheat, maize, millets — jowar, bajra, ragi; pulses — gram, tur (arhar) etc.

Cash Crops Cotton, jute, sugarcane, tobacco, oilseeds, groundnut, linseed, sesamum, castor
seed, rapeseed, mustard, etc.
Plantation Crops Tea, coffee, coconut, arecanut, rubber and spices — cardamom, chillies, ginger,
turmeric etc.
Horticulture Vegetables — Onion, tomato, etc; and fruits — Apple, Orange, Mango, banana,
citrus fruits, etc..

Other Types Of Agriculture

Silk farming Sericulture
Bee keeping Apiculture
Fish Farming Pisciculture
Flower Farming Floriculture
Cultivation of Grapes Viticulture
Cultivation of Earthworms Vermiculture
Vegetable farming Olericulture
Garden cultivation and management Horticulture
Rice
• 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
• Uttar Pradesh
• Punjab
• 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.

https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/doc/stat/tab
118.pdf

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)
• Top Wheat Producing States: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh ,Punjab
• 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.

•It is a rich source of calcium, thiamine, riboflavin

and iron.
Millets (Nutri-Cereals)

• 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)
• 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.

Total Nutri / Coarse Cereals

Rajasthan
Karnataka
Maharashtra

Maize

• Temperature: Between 21-27°C

• Rainfall: High rainfall.
• Soil Type: Old alluvial soil.
• Top Maize Producing States: Karnataka > Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra
• 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
maize.
Pulses
• Temperature: Between 20-27°C
• Rainfall: Around 25-60 cm.
• Soil Type: Sandy-loamy soil.
• 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.
• 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.

Sugarcane

• emperature: Between 21-27°C with hot and humid climate.

• Rainfall: Around 75-100 cm.
• Soil Type: Deep rich loamy soil.
• Top Sugarcane Producing States: Uttar Pradesh >
Maharashtra > Karnataka > Tamil Nadu > Bihar.
• India is the second largest producer of sugarcane after
Brazil.
• It can be grown on all variety of soils ranging from sandy
loam to clay loam given these soils should be well drained.
• It needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.
• It is the main source of sugar, gur (jaggery), khandsari
Oil Seeds
• Temperature: Between 15-30°C
• Rainfall: Around 30-75 cm.
• Soil Type: Loam to clayey loam and well drained sandy loams.
• Main oil-seeds produced in India are groundnut, mustard,
coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, castor seeds, cotton seeds,
linseed and sunflower.
• Most of these are edible and used as cooking mediums.
However, some of these are also used as a raw material in the
production of soap, cosmetics and ointments.
• Yellow Revolution and Integrated Scheme on Oilseeds, Pulses,
Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM) are examples of government
initiatives for oilseeds.

• Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts for about half of the major oilseeds produced in the
country.
• Linseed and mustard are rabi crops.
• Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south India.
• Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop.

Horticulture Crops

• Horticulture is the branch of agriculture concerned with cultivation, production and sale of fruits,
vegetables, flowers, herbs, ornamental or exotic plants.

• India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and it produces both tropical and
temperate fruits.
• India produces about 13 percent of the world’s vegetables. It is an important producer of peas,
cauliflower, onions, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato.

• Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu are the major Fruits producing States, whereas Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya
Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Odisha are the major Vegetables producing States of
the country (in order of production, as per the Third Advance Estimates of 2020-21).
 Fruits States
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Mangoes Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal

Oranges Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya)

Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil

Bananas
Nadu
Litchi and Guava Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Pineapples Meghalaya
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and
Grapes
Maharashtra
Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal
Apples, Pears, Apricots and Walnuts
Pradesh

Plantation Crops
Tea
• Temperature: Between 20-30°C
• Rainfall: Around 150-300 cm.
• Soil Type: Deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich in
humus and organic matter.
• Top Tea Producing States: Assam > West Bengal >
Tamil Nadu.
• India is the second largest producer of tea.
• It was introduced in the eastern hill slopes of India by
the British.
• Tea is a labour intensive industry. It requires abundant,
cheap and skilled labour. Tea is processed within the
tea garden to retain its freshness.

Coffee

• Temperature: Between 15-28°C

• Rainfall: Around 150-250 cm.
• Soil Type: Well drained, deep friable loamy soil.
• Top Coffee Producing States: Karnataka > Kerala >
Tamil Nadu.
• India is the seventh largest producer.
• Coffee was initially brought from Yemen and
introduced on the Baba Budan Hills.
• Hills with well-defined shade canopy, comprising
evergreen leguminous trees provide the optimal
condition for coffee cultivation that is why it is mainly
concentrated in the hilly regions.
• Indian variety of coffee ‘Arabica’ is famous worldwide.
Rubber

• Temperature: Above 25°C with moist and humid

climate.
• Rainfall: More than 200 cm.
• Soil Type: Rich well drained alluvial soil.
• Top Rubber Producing States: Kerala > Tamil Nadu
> Karnataka.
• It is an equatorial crop, but under special
conditions, it is also grown in tropical and sub-
tropical areas.
• Rubber is an important industrial raw material.

Fibre Crops
Cotton

• Temperature: Between 21-30°C

• Rainfall: Around 50-100cm.
• Soil Type: Well drained black cotton soil of Deccan Plateau.
• India is believed to be the original home of the cotton plant. Cotton is one of the main raw
materials for cotton textile industry.
• Cotton needs 210 frost-free days and bright sun-shine for its growth.
• It is a kharif crop and requires 6 to 8 months to mature.
• Silver Fibre Revolution and Technology Mission on Cotton are the government initiatives for
increasing cotton production in India.
• Cotton has been genetically modified into BT Cotton to fight environmental stress and pest
attacks.
Jute
• Temperature: Between 25-35°C
• Rainfall: Around 150-250 cm
• Soil Type: Well drained alluvial soil
• Top Jute Producing States: West Bengal > Bihar > Assam >
Andhra Pradesh > Odisha.
• It is mainly concentrated in eastern India because of the rich
alluvial soil of Ganga-Brahmaputra delta.
• India is the largest producer of jute.
• It is known as the golden fibre.
• It is used in making gunny bags, mats, ropes, yarn, carpets
and other artefacts.
• Due to its high cost, it is losing market to synthetic fibres and
packing materials, particularly nylon.
• Golden Fibre Revolution and Technology Mission on Jute and
Mesta are two of the government initiatives to boost jute
production in India.
MCQ
1. How many crops are there based on seasons?
a) 4
b) 3
c) 5
d) 2

2. What is India's global rank in cotton production?

a) 1st
b) 2nd
c) 3rd
d) 4th

3. The Rabi crops are sown in which months?

a. March-April
b. June-July
c. October-November
d. January-February

4. Which of the following is not a Rabi Crop?

a. Carrot Explanation: The Rabi crops include wheat, barley, oats
b. Radish (cereals), chickpea/gram (pulses), linseed, mustard
(oilseeds), peas, carrots, raddish etc. Lady’s finger is
c. Pea Kharif crop.
d. Lady’s finger

5. Match the columns

a. Largest litchi producing state in India 1. West Bengal

b. Cocoa producing state in India 2. Madhya Pradesh
c. Major wheat-producing states in India 3. Kerala
d. Major rice producing state in India 4. Bihar

a b c d
a. 1 2 3 4
b. 4 3 2 1
c. 3 1 4 2
d. 1 4 3 2
1. Ans:b
2. Ans:a
3. Ans:c
4. Ans:d
5. Ans:b