Cropping seasons and the geography of major crops

Concepts to cover

1. Kharif (rice, cotton, groundnut, jowar, bajra, maize, soybean), rabi (wheat, gram, mustard, barley) and zaid crops
2. Rice: hot humid, over 100 cm rain or irrigation, largest kharif area; wheat: cool rabi season, Punjab-Haryana-Uttar Pradesh
3. Millets (jowar, bajra, ragi) and maize: rainfed, drought-tolerant, nutri-cereals
4. Pulses (gram, tur or pigeon pea, moong or green gram, cowpea; pulse, fodder and green manure uses) and oilseeds (groundnut, sesamum, mustard, soybean; mostly rainfed)
5. Cotton: subtropical, 210 frost-free days, 50 to 100 cm rain, light well-drained or black soil; jute: hot humid West Bengal and Assam
6. Sugarcane: tropical to subtropical, water-intensive, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra; its area and cotton's compared
7. Plantation crops: tea (Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal, Tripura), coffee (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), rubber (Kerala), spices
8. Horticulture and regional specialities: apple (Himachal, Kashmir), mango, areca nut (coastal Karnataka, Kerala), saffron