Indian Agriculture: Pulses, Oilseeds, and Sugarcane - PDF

Pulses: India is the largest producer as well sowing to harvesting. India is the second as the consumer of pulses in the world. These largest producer of sugarcane only after are the major source of protein in a vegetarian Brazil. It is the main source of sugar, gur diet. Ma...

Pulses: India is the largest producer as well sowing to harvesting. India is the second as the consumer of pulses in the world. These largest producer of sugarcane only after are the major source of protein in a vegetarian Brazil. It is the main source of sugar, gur diet. Major pulses that are grown in India are (jaggary), khandsari and molasses. The major tur (arhar), urad, moong, masur, peas and sugarcane-producing states are Uttar gram. Can you distinguish which of these Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil pulses are grown in the kharif season and Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, which are grown in the rabi season? Pulses Punjab and Haryana. need less moisture and survive even in dry Oil Seeds: In 2018 India was the second conditions. Being leguminous crops, all these largest producer of groundnut in the world crops except arhar help in restoring soil after China. In rapeseed production India was fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air. Therefore, these are mostly grown in rotation third largest producer in the world after with other crops. Major pulse producing states Canada and China in 2018. Different oil seeds in India are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, are grown covering approximately 12 per cent Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. of the total cropped area of the country. Main oil-seeds produced in India are groundnut, Food Crops other than Grains mustard, coconut, sesamum (til), soyabean, Sugarcane: It is a tropical as well as a castor seeds, cotton seeds, linseed and subtropical crop. It grows well in hot and sunflower. Most of these are edible and used humid climate with a temperature of 21°C to as cooking mediums. However, some of these 27°C and an annual rainfall between 75cm. are also used as raw material in the and 100cm. Irrigation is required in the production of soap, cosmetics and ointments. regions of low rainfall. It can be grown on a Groundnut is a kharif crop and accounts variety of soils and needs manual labour from for about half of the major oilseeds produced in the country. Gujarat was the largest producer of groundnut followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in 2019–20. Linseed and mustard are rabi crops. Sesamum is a kharif crop in north and rabi crop in south India. Castor seed is grown both as rabi and kharif crop. Tea: Tea cultivation is an example of plantation agriculture. It is also an important beverage crop introduced in India initially by the British. Today, most of the tea plantations are owned by Indians. The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates endowed with deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter. Tea Fig. 4.8: Sugarcane Cultivation bushes require warm and moist frost-free Fig. 4.9: Groundnut, sunflower and mustard are ready to be harvested in the field 36 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II Reprint 2024-25