Sugarcane is a major commercial crop and rich source of sugar and ethanol. It can be cultivated along roadsides, railway tracks and in the wastelands, as it does not compete with orchards and forest trees.
It grows well in hot and humid climates with a temperature of 21°C to 27°C and annual rainfall between 75cm to l00cm.
It can be grown on a variety of soils. Needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.
India is the second largest producer of sugarcane only after Brazil. Sugarcane is the main source of Sugar, Gur (Jaggery), Khansari and molasses.
The major sugarcane-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana.
2. Oil Seeds
Major world oilseed crops are soybean, sunflower, Brassica, canola, coconut, oil palm, rapeseed, peanuts, rice and cotton.
Different oil seeds are grown covering approximately 12% of the total cropped area of India. Main oil-seeds produced in India are:
Groundnut: is a Kharif crop and accounts for half of the major oilseeds produced in India. Gujarat is the largest producer of groundnuts.
Mustard: is a rabi crop.
Sesamum (til): is a Kharif crop in the north and rabi crop in south India.
Castor seeds: It is grown as both Rabi and Kharif crop.
Linseed: is a rabi crop.
3. Tea
Tea has been known in China since about 2700 bce. For millennia it was a medicinal beverage obtained by boiling fresh leaves in water, but around the 3rd century ce it became a daily drink, and tea cultivation and processing began.
It is also an important beverage crop introduced by the British in India.
The tea plant grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climates with deep and fertile well- drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter.
Tea bushes require warm and moist frost-free climate all through the year.
Tea is a labour-intensive industry.
Major tea producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpalguri districts, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
4. Coffee
Wild coffee plants, probably from Kefa (Kaffa), Ethiopia, were taken to southern Arabia and placed under cultivation in the 15th century.
One of many legends about the discovery of coffee is that of Kaldi, an Arab goatherd who was puzzled by the strange antics of his flock.
About 850 ce Kaldi supposedly sampled the berries of the evergreen bush on which the goats were feeding and, on experiencing a sense of exhilaration, proclaimed his discovery to the world.
Yemen coffee is produced in India and this variety of coffee is in great demand all over the world.
Its cultivation was introduced on the Baba Budan Hills and is confined to the Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
5. Horticulture Crops
Temperate zones for horticulture cannot be defined exactly by lines of latitude or longitude but are usually regarded as including those areas where frost in winter occurs, even though rarely.
India is a producer of tropical as well as temperate fruits.
Major crops produced are pea, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, tomato, brinjal and potato. Some of the famous horticulture crops grown in India are:
Mangoes of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal Oranges of Nagpur and Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya), bananas of Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Lichi and Guava of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Pineapples of Meghalaya
Grapes of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra
Apples, pears, apricots and walnuts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh
