{"id":54699,"date":"2021-10-08T05:47:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T05:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/?p=54699"},"modified":"2021-10-08T05:47:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T05:47:21","slug":"major-crops-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/major-crops-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Crops in India &#8211; Geography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Agricultural landholdings in India are small and fragmented; about two-thirds of Indian farms fall into the category of less than one hectare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India, as an agrarian economy, is largely self-sufficient in food production, except for wheat and sugar. Farmers who practice subsistence farming and women farmers play a pivotal role in ensuring food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A variety of food and non-food crops are grown in different parts of India depending upon the variations in soil, climate and cultivation practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Indian agriculture playing a crucial role in the economy, the challenges of resource deficit and environmental degradation push us to develop modern and sustainable farming techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">i. Rice<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a kharif crop.<\/li><li>It requires high temperature and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm.<\/li><li>India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.<\/li><li>It is grown in the plains of north and north-eastern India, coastal areas and the deltaicregions.<\/li><li>Top Rice Producing States: West Bengal &gt; Punjab &gt; Uttar Pradesh &gt; Andhra Pradesh &gt; Bihar.<\/li><li>It is the staple food crop of majority of Indian people.<\/li><li>In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro.<\/li><li>National Food Security Mission, Hybrid Rice Seed Production and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana are few government initiatives to support rice cultivation.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Wheat<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>This is a rabi crop.<\/li><li>It requires a cool growing season and bright sunshine at the time of ripening.<\/li><li>It requires 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall evenly distributed over the growing season.<\/li><li>The Ganga-Satluj plains in the north-west and black soil region of the Deccan are two main wheat-growing zones in India.<\/li><li>It is the second most important cereal crop and main food crop, in the north and north- western part of India.<\/li><li>Top Wheat Producing States: Uttar Pradesh &gt; Punjab &gt; Madhya Pradesh &gt; Haryana &gt; Rajasthan.<\/li><li>India is the second largest producer after China.<\/li><li>This is the second most important cereal crop and the main food crop, in north and north-western India.<\/li><li>Success of Green Revolution contributed to the growth of Rabi crops especially wheat.<\/li><li>Macro Management Mode of Agriculture, National Food Security Mission and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana are few government initiatives to support wheat cultivation.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Millets<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Jowar, Bajra and Ragi are the important millets grown in India.<\/li><li>These are known as coarse grains and have very high nutritional value.<\/li><li>Top Millets Producing States: Rajasthan &gt; Karnataka &gt; Maharashtra &gt; Madhya Pradesh &gt; Uttar Pradesh<\/li><li>Jowar: Maharashtra &gt; Karnataka &gt; Madhya Pradesh &gt; Tamil Nadu &gt; Andhra Pradesh.<\/li><li>Bajra: Rajasthan &gt; Uttar Pradesh &gt; Gujarat &gt; Madhya Pradesh &gt; Haryana.<\/li><li>These are also known as coarse grains, which have high nutritional value. Ragi is very rich in iron, calcium, other micro nutrients and roughage.<\/li><li>Jowar is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production.<\/li><li>National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion are examples of government\u2019s efforts to support millet production.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Maize<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a Kharif crop.<\/li><li>It requires temperature between 21\u00b0C to 27\u00b0C and grows well in old a11uvia1 soil.<\/li><li>It is used both as food and fodder.<\/li><li>Top Maize Producing States: Karnataka &gt; Maharashtra &gt; Madhya Pradesh &gt; Tamil Nadu &gt; Telangana<\/li><li>India is the seventh largest producer worldwide.<\/li><li>Use of modern inputs such as High-Yielding Variety seeds, fertilisers and irrigation have contributed to the increasing production of maize.<\/li><li>Technology Mission on Maize is one of the government\u2019s initiatives for mazie.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Pulses<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world.<\/li><li>Pulses are the major source of protein in a vegetarian diet.<\/li><li>Major pulses grown in India are Tur (Arhar), Urad, Moong, Masur, Peas and Gram.<\/li><li>Pulses are mostly grown in rotation with other crops so that the soil restore fertility.<\/li><li>Top Pulses Producing States: Madhya Pradesh &gt; Rajasthan &gt; Maharashtra &gt; Uttar Pradesh &gt; Karnataka.<\/li><li>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.<\/li><li>National Food Security Mission for Pulses, Pulses Development Scheme and Technological Mission on Pulses are few of the government\u2019s plans to support pulses production.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Agricultural landholdings in India are small and fragmented; about two-thirds of Indian farms fall into the category of less than one hectare. India, as an agrarian economy, is largely self-sufficient in food production, except for wheat and sugar. Farmers who practice subsistence farming and women farmers play a pivotal role in ensuring food security. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":54649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1761],"tags":[1838],"class_list":["post-54699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-upsc-notes","tag-geography-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54704,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/revisions\/54704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}