Describe the food crops in India.

Crops that are produced for use as food are called food crops. Example – Rice, Wheat, Maize, Barley, etc.,

1. Wheat:

a. Wheat is the major food crop of India.

b. It is a rabi crop and requires a temperature of 21-24 degree centigrade and 25-75 centimetres of rainfall.

c. India ranks third in the world’s wheat production.

d. India is self-sufficient in the production of wheat.

e. Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar are the leading producers of wheat in India.

f. Alwar, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Kota, Hanumangarh and Ganganagar are the places where wheat is grown in Rajasthan.

2. Rice:

a. Rice is a Kharif crop and is produced mainly in tropical areas.

b. The cultivation of rice requires 20 – 27-degree centigrade temperature and rainfall between 75-200 centimetres.

c. Kachari and mould soil which are found in the river valley areas are suitable to grow rice.

d. On the basis of climate, three types of rice crops such as Aman, Aus and Boro are produced in the rainy, winter and summer seasons respectively.

e. India is the second largest producer of rice in the world.

f. West Bengal is the largest producer of rice in India.

g. West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Tamil Nadu together produce ninety percent of rice.

h. Remaining ten percent rice is grown in the states of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.

i. Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Kota, and Bundi are some of the areas where rice is grown in Rajasthan.

3. Maize:

a. Maize is an important food crop as well as commercial crop.

b. Maize is the second largest Kharif crop.

c. The cultivation of maize requires nitrogen-rich soil.

d. Maize grows well in areas where temperature ranges from 12-35 centigrade and receive rainfall between 50-100 centimetres.

e. Maize is used as a raw material in starch and glucose manufacturing industries and hence it is a commercial crop. India ranks tenth in maize production.

f. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh contribute 60 per cent of maize production in the country. In Rajasthan, maize is grown in the areas of Kota, Bundi, Bara, Jhalawar, Udaipur, Chittor, Banswara, Ajmer, Ganganagar and Hanumangarh.

4. Millets:

a. Millets are one of the important food crops in our country.

b. India is the first largest producer of millets in the world.

c. Millet is a Kharif crop and is grown in regions which receive 40-60 centimetres of rainfall and has a temperature of about 15-20 degree centigrade.

d. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh produce nearly 85 per cent of the total millets produced in our country.

e. The other producers of millets are Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab.

f. Ganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Alwar, Jaipur, Sikar, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer are the places where millets are grown in Rajasthan.

Thus, the production of food crops varies in different states according to the climate and facilities available.