Cropping Patterns and Major Crops of India: Part One (2024)

• 02 Nov 2019
• 6 min read

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

Major Food Crops

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 > 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.
• 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)
• 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)

• 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)
• 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

• 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.

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.
• 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.

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