Cropping Seasons
| Season | Sowing | Harvest | Major crops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kharif | June-July (with onset of monsoon) | September-October | Rice, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, cotton, jute, groundnut, soybean, sugarcane, tur, moong, urad |
| Rabi | October-December (winter) | March-April | Wheat, barley, gram, mustard, rapeseed, linseed, peas, lentil |
| Zaid | March-June (summer) | June-July | Watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables, fodder; Zaid rice and moong in some areas |
- In J&K the rabi crop is sown in autumn and harvested in May-June. The valley has mainly one crop a year because of cold.
- Kharif needs warmth and moisture. Rabi needs cool weather for growth and warm weather for ripening, and benefits from western disturbances.
- West Bengal has three rice crops: Aus (autumn), Aman (winter), Boro (summer).
- Tamil Nadu has Kuruvai, Samba, Thaladi; Karnataka has Mungari; Rajasthan Sunhra.
Crop-year and terms
- Agricultural year is July to June.
- Mixed cropping: two or more crops in the same field together.
- Inter-cropping: crops in rows.
- Crop rotation: changing crops in sequence to maintain fertility.
- Relay cropping, catch crops, cover crops.
MSP and procurement
- Minimum Support Price is announced for kharif and rabi crops each year. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) procures wheat and rice; Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are leaders in wheat procurement, and Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in rice.
- NAFED and other agencies procure pulses and oilseeds.
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from NCERT, standard geography textbooks, the Census of India 2011, the India State of Forest Report, IMD, Ministry of Agriculture and other official sources. Maps are schematic teaching maps, not Survey of India maps, and zone boundaries are approximate. Figures such as production, capacity, counts of parks and ports, and census status change, so check the latest official source before relying on them. Found a mistake? Tell us.