The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June. The Indian cropping season is classified into two main seasons-(i) Kharif and (ii) Rabi based on the monsoon. The kharif cropping season is from July –October during the south-west monsoon and the Rabi cropping season is from October-March (winter). The crops grown between March and June are summer crops.
Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June. Some of the important Rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard. Though, these crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and north-western parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops. Availability of precipitation during winter months due to the western temperate cyclones helps in the success of these crops. However, the success of the green revolution in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan has also been an important factor in the growth of the above-mentioned rabi crops.
Kharif crops are grown with the onset of monsoon in different parts of the country and these are harvested in September-October. Important crops grown during this season are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean. Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and Haryana. In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro.
Crops grown in India
| Types of Crops | Meaning | Major Crops | ||
| Food grains | Crops that are used for human consumption | Rice, Wheat, Maize, Millets, Pulses and Oilseeds | ||
| Commercial Crops | Crops which are grown for sale either in raw form or in semi-processed form | Cotton, Jute, Sugarcane, Tobaccco and Oilseeds | ||
| Plantation Crops | Crops which are grown on Plantations covering large estates | Tea, Coffee, Coconut and Rubber | ||
| Horticulture | Sections of agriculture in which Fruits and Vegetables are grown | Fruits and Vegetables | ||
Diversity of crops grown across the country:
- Rice-Wheat: UP, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh.
- Rice-Rice: Irrigated and Humid coastal system of Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
- Rice- Groundnut: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Maharashtra
- Rice-Pulses: Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Bihar.
- Maize-Wheat: UP, Rajasthan, MP and Bihar.
- Sugarcane-Wheat: UP, Punjab and Haryana accounts for 68% of the area under sugarcane. The other states which cover the crops are; Karnataka and MP.
- Cotton-Wheat: Punjab, Haryana, West UP, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu.
- Soya bean-Wheat: Maharashtra, MP and Rajasthan
- Legume Based Cropping Systems (Pulses-Oilseeds): MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
