Agriculture in India — Important Questions

High Yielding Variety

HYV stands for High Yielding Variety. These are special seeds that produce more grain per plant compared to traditional varieties. HYV seeds were a key component of the Green Revolution and require proper fertilizers, water, and other inputs to achieve higher productivity. They have shorter stalks, larger amounts of grain, and shorter maturity periods, allowing double cropping in some cases.

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of sugarcane in India, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane is a tropical and subtropical crop that requires hot and humid climate with temperatures of 21°C to 27°C and annual rainfall between 75-100 cm. It grows on various soil types and requires manual labor from sowing to harvesting. India is the second largest producer of sugarcane globally after Brazil.

Coarse grains

Millets like jowar, bajra, and ragi are known as coarse grains, despite having very high nutritional value. For example, ragi is rich in iron, calcium, and other micronutrients. Jowar is the third most important food crop by area and production in India. These crops are rain-fed and require minimal irrigation, making them suitable for dry regions. Maharashtra leads in jowar production, while Rajasthan leads in bajra production.

Pulses

India is the largest producer as well as consumer of pulses in the world. Pulses are the main source of protein in a vegetarian diet and include red gram, black gram, green gram, masur, peas, and bengal gram. Being leguminous crops, most pulses help restore soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from air. They need less moisture and can survive in dry conditions. Major pulse-producing states include Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.