MAJOR FOOD CROPS

RICE WHEAT MILLET MAIZE PULSES

It is the staple food This is the second most Jowar, bajra and ragi It is a crop which is Largest consumer of
crop of a majority of important cereal crop. It is the are the important used both as food pulses in the world is
the people in India. main food crop, in north and millets grown in and fodder. India.
north-western part of the India.
country
India is the second India is the second largest India is the largest US is the largest India is the largest
largest producer of rice producer of wheat after China producer of millet producer of maize producer of pulses
in the world after china followed by Nigeria followed by china followed by Myanmar ,
and brazil canada and china
Kharif crop Rabi crop Kharif crop Kharif-rabi in bihar Both kharif and rabi
Above 25 degree c 20 to 25 degree 20 to 25 degree 21 to 27 25 to 35 degree celcius
High humidity Requires a cool growing season It is a rain fed crop Needs less moisture and
and bright sunshine at ripening mostly grown in the can survive even in dry
condtitions
Annual rainfall abouve Annual rainfall of 50 to 75 cm It hardly needs any
100 cm. In areas of less
rainfall it grows with
the help of irrigation.
distributed evenly over the
growing season
irrigation and aprx
30 cm of rain fall - -
Rice is grown in plains There are two important wheat-
of north and north-
eastern India, coastal
areas and the deltaic
growing zones in the country-
the Ganga-Sutlej plains in the
north-west and black soil region
- - -
regions of the
Deccan.
Major wheat producing states Jowar-Maharashtra, Karnataka, MP ,UP, MP, Rajasthan,
are Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Karnataka, Andhra Bihar, Andhra Maharashtra, UP, and
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Pradesh and MP. Pradesh and Karnataka
Bihar and Rajasthan. Bajra-Rajasthan, Telangana

- UP, Maharashtra,
Gujarat and Haryana
Ragi- Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, HP,
Uttrakhand,Sikkim,
Jharkhand and
Arujnachal Pradesh
Development of dense They are called as Use of modern These are the major
network of canal
irrigation and tubewells
have made it possible
- coarse grains. They
have very high
nutritional value.
inputs such as
fertilizers and
irrigation have
source of protein in a
vegetarian diet. Major
pulses that are grown in
to grow rice in areas of E.g. ragi is very rich contributed to the India are tur(arhara-,
less rainfall such as in iron, calcium, increasing urad, moong, masur,
Punjab, Haryana and other micro nutrients production of maize peas and gram.
western Uttar Pradesh and roughage.Jowar Being leguminous crops,
and Parts of Rajasthan os the third most all these crops except
important food crop arhar help in restoring
with respect to area soil fertility by fixing
and production nitrogen from the air.
Thereore, these are
mostly grown in rotation
with other crops
- - Bajra grows well on
sandty soils and
shallow black soil.