MAJAR CROPS IN INDIA

 Major Crops ...

A variety of food and non food crops are

grown in different parts of the country

depending upon the variations in soil, climate

and cultivation practices. Major crops grown

in India are rice, wheat, millets, pulses, tea,

coffee, sugarcane, oil seeds, cotton and jute,

etc.

Rice: It is the staple food crop of a majority of

the people in India. Our country is the second

largest producer of rice in the world after

China. It is a kharif crop which requires high

temperature, (above 25°C) and high humidity

with annual rainfall above 100 cm. In the areas

of less rainfall, it grows with the help of

irrigation.Rice is grown in the plains of north and

north-eastern India, coastal areas and the

deltaic regions. Development of dense network

of canal irrigation and tubewells have made

it possible to grow rice in areas of less rainfall

such as Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar

Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.

Wheat: This is the second most important

cereal crop. It is the main food crop, in north

and north-western part of the country. This

rabi crop requires a cool growing season and

a bright sunshine at the time of ripening. It

requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenlydistributed

over the growing season. There

are two important wheat-growing zones in the

country – the Ganga-Satluj plains in the

north-west and black soil region of the Deccan.

The major wheat-producing states are

Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya

Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi are the

important millets grown in India. Though,

these are known as coarse grains, they have

very high nutritional value. For example, 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. It is a rain-fed crop mostly

grown in the moist areas which hardly needs

irrigation. Major Jowar producing States are

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh

and Madhya Pradesh.Bajra grows well on sandy soils and

shallow black soil. Major Bajra producing

States are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana. Ragi is

a crop of dry regions and grows well on red,

black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils.

Major ragi producing states are: Karnataka,

Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,

Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh

Maize: It is a crop which is used both as

food and fodder. It is a kharif crop which

requires temperature between 21°C to 27°C

and grows well in old alluvial soil. In some

states like Bihar maize is grown in rabi season

also. Use of modern inputs such as HYV

seeds, fertilisers and irrigation have

contributed to the increasing production of

maize. Major maize-producing states are

Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,

Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Pulses: 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 that are grown in India are

tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas and

gram. Can you distinguish which of these

pulses are grown in the kharif season and

which are grown in the rabi season? Pulses

need less moisture and survive even in dry

conditions. 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. Major pulse producing states

in India are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,

Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka