Explain the contribution of the oilseed in agricultural crops in India.

Crops such as groundnut and mustard which are cultivated for yielding oil are called oil-seed crops. Their seeds are rich in oil content. India contributes nearly 10 per cent to the total oil-seed production of the world.

In India, groundnut, mustard, sesame, castor, sunflower and soyabean are the major oil-seed crops.

Groundnut:

a. Groundnut is the major oil-seed crop that is cultivated in India.

b. It is a Kharif crop.

c. India is the second largest producer of groundnut in the world.

d. Gujarat is the leading producer of groundnut in India. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka are the other major producers of groundnut in India.

e. Cultivation of groundnut can be seen in Sawai Madhopur, Chittor, Jaipur, Ganganagar, Bikaner, Hanumangarh and Bhilawra in Rajasthan.

Mustard:

a. Mustard is one of the main oil-seeds that is grown in India.

b. Nearly 70% of the mustard produced in the world is from India. Rajasthan is the leading producer of mustard in India.

c. Rajasthan is followed by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.

d. The state of Rajasthan accounts for nearly 41% of the total mustard production in the country. Sawai Madhopur, Chittor, Ganganagar, Bikaner, Alwar, Bharatpur, Hanumangarh, Bhilawra are some of the places where mustard is grown in Rajasthan.

Other oilseed crops:

a. Other oil-seed crops such as castor and soybean are also grown in India.

b. Gujarat accounts for nearly sixty-five per cent of castor whereas twenty-five per cent is grown in Rajasthan.

c. Madhya Pradesh is the leading producer of soybeans in the country contributing nearly seventy per cent whereas Maharashtra and Rajasthan produce twenty and ten per cent respectively.

Measures are being taken to improve oil-seed production by bringing more production areas under irrigation, promotion of modern crop technology and to provide incentives to private sector participation.