CROPPING PATTERN IN INDIA

Cropping pattern in india...

 India has three cropping seasons

— rabi, kharif and zaid.

Rabi crops are sown in winter from October

to December and harvested in summer from

April to June. Some of the important rabi

crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and

mustard. Though, these crops are grown in

large parts of India, states from the north

and north-western parts such as Punjab,

Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and

Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are

important for the production of wheat and

other rabi crops. Availability of precipitation

during winter months due to the western

temperate cyclones helps in the success of

these crops. However, the success of the green

revolution in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar

Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also been

an important factor in the growth of the abovementioned

rabi crops.

Kharif crops are grown with the onset of

monsoon in different parts of the country and

these are harvested in September-October.

Important crops grown during this season

are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar),

moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and

soyabean. Some of the most important  

ricegrowing 

regions are Assam, West Bengal,

coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh,

Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and

Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast)

along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Recently,

paddy has also become an important crop of

Punjab and Haryana. In states like Assam,

West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy

are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman

and Boro.

In between the rabi and the kharif seasons,

there is a short season during the summer

months known as the Zaid season. Some of

the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are

watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber,

vegetables and fodder crops. Sugarcane takes

almost a year to grow.