Types of Crops in India 2023, Check Complete Information

Crops in India

India has several types of soils, water resources, soil fertility levels, climate, and climatic conditions, due to which different types of crops in India. The most widely grown crops in India are field crops.  The major crop-growing states in India are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh.

Major Types of Crops in India

There are three 3 Major categories/ types of crops base on the season that they are grown in India:

• Rabi
• Kharif 
• Zaid

The names given to the seasonal crop categories were provided during the Mughal rule and are in Arabic.  

Another categorization of the types of crops in India is cash crops, food crops, horticulture crops, and plantation crops.   The following lists enumerate some of the crops that fall in each category.

Types of Crops in India – Cash Crops

• Cotton
• Jute 
• Oilseeds 
• Sugarcane
• Tobacco 
• Rice
• Wheat
• Millets
• Maize
• Pulses
• Tea
• Coffee
• Rubber

Types of Crops in India – Food Crops

• Wheat
• Maize
• Rice
• Millets
• Pulses

Types of Crops in India – Horticulture Crops (Horticultural Crops Can be Cash Crops Too)

• Fruits, such as Mulberry, Apple, Mango, Guava, and Watermelon
• Vegetables, such as potato, onion, tomato, cabbage, peas

Types of Crops in India – Plantation Crops

• Coffee
• Coconut
• Tea
• Rubber

Let us look at the Rabi, Kharif, and Zaid crops in a little detail.

Types of Crops in India – Rabi

• Sown in winter and harvested in summer.  Also referred to as spring or winter crop. 
• Crops belonging to the Rabi produce grow mainly in India in the northern and northwestern regions.        These are:

• Punjab
• Haryana
• Himachal Pradesh
• Jammu & Kashmir
• Uttaranchal
• Uttar Pradesh.

In the Rabi season, fruits, lentils, vegetables, cereals, and plants that are grown for their seed are sown and harvested. Here are some of the crops grown under each category during the Rabi season.

Types of Crops in India – Vegetables

• beans
• beetroot
• brinjal
• broccoli
• cabbage
• capsicum
• carrot
• cauliflowers
• chickpea
• fenugreek
• garlic
• ladyfinger
• onion
• potato
• radish

Types of Crops in India – Seed Plants

• red gram
• sunflower
• linseed
• isabgol
• mustard
• bengal gram
• alfalfa
• coriander
• fenugreek
• cumin

Types of Crops in India – Lentils / Legumes / Pulses (dal)

• mung bean
• chickpea
• pigeon pea
• toria
• urad bean
• kulthi
• lobia
• masoor

Types of Crops in India – Fruits

• banana
• kinno
• grape
• grapefruit
• mango
• guava
• lemon
• lime
• mulberry
• orange
• date
• mandarin orange

Types of Crops in India – Cereals

• bajra
• buckwheat
• gram
• linseed
• mustard seeds
• oatmeal (Avena sativa)
• rapeseed
• wheat

Types of Crops in India – Kharif

• Sown in monsoon and harvested end of monsoon.  These crops get their moisture from the southwest monsoon winds.
• Kharif crops mostly grow in the following states:

• Assam
• West Bengal
• Odisha
• Andhra Pradesh
• Telangana
• Tamil Nadu
• Kerala
• Maharashtra

In the Kharif season, fruits, lentils, vegetables, cereals, and plants that are grown for their seed are sown and harvested. Here are some of the crops grown under each category during the Kharif season.

Types of Crops in India – Vegetables

• bitter gourd
• brinjal
• green bean
• sponge gourd
• tinda
• tomato
• turmeric

Types of Crops in India – Seed Plants

• groundnut
• sesame

Types of Crops in India – Lentils / Pulses / Legumes (dal)

• arhar(tur)
• green gram
• guar
• moth bean
• mung bean
• soybean
• urad bean

Types of Crops in India – Cash Crop

• Cotton

Types of Crops in India – Fruits

• luffa
• muskmelon
• orange
• sugarcane
• watermelon

Types of Crops in India – Cereals

• jowar
• maize (corn)
• millet
• rice

Types of Crops in India – Zaid Crops

• Sown all through the summer season for four months. 
• Zaid is the crop growing season between the Rabi and the Kharif seasons.
• Zaid crops need dry and warm weather during most of the period of growth.
• They required long days for flowering to happen. 
• Zaid crops mature early.
• It is also called the summer crop, and its main crops are the traditional summer crops
• Crops belonging to the Zaid time grow mainly in India’s northern and western regions. The states growing Zaid crops in India are:
• Uttar Pradesh

• Punjab
• Haryana
• Tamil Nadu
• Gujarat

List of Zaid Crops:

• bitter gourd
• certain coarse cereals
• corn
• cucumber
• fooder crops
• muskmelon
• pepper
• pumpkin
• rice
• tomato
• watermelon 

Food Crops and Cash Crops in India

Let us now look at the food crop and cash crop categorization of the various crops in India.

Crops, referred to as food crops, are grown for personal use or human consumption and not for marketing, for example, rice.

Crops referred to as cash crops are grown for business rather than for personal use—for example, cotton.  

Let us look at these two categories in some detail.

Difference Between Cash Crops and Food Crops

Food Crops	Cash Crops
Gathered for human consumption	Most of them are harvested to be sold commercially
Generally grown in a small area of land	Grown on large fields
Cultivation cost is not very high	Cultivation cost goes up due to the need for specialized fertilizers and expensive equipment.
Do not influence household income in a big way.	Neither income nor employment is spread equitably across households.

India’s Plantation Crops

India was introduced to plantation agriculture through the Europeans. 

Plantation crops began with being grown on India’s east coast.  Currently, they are more found in south India. Plantation crops are mostly commercial crops that are great influencers in India’s economic stability.

Several plantation crops are grown in India. These are:

• Arecanut
• Betel Vine
• Cashewnut
• Cocoa
• Coconut
• Coffee
• Oil Palm
• Palmyrah
• Rubber
• Tea

Here is a list of major crops grown in India along with their top producing states

Crops	Third Highest Producer	Second Highest Producer	Highest Producer
Bajra	Gujarat	Uttar Pradesh	Rajasthan
Barley	Madhya Pradesh	Uttar Pradesh	Rajasthan
Castor seed	Andhra Pradesh	Rajasthan	Gujarat
Coarse Cereals	Madhya Pradesh	Karnataka	Rajasthan
Coffee	Tamilnadu	Kerala	Karnataka
Cotton	Telangana	Maharashtra	Gujarat
Food Grains	Punjab	Madhya Pradesh	Uttar Pradesh
Gram	Rajasthan	Karnataka	Madhya Pradesh
Groundnut	Tamilnadu	Rajasthan	Gujarat
Jowar	Tamilnadu	Karnataka	Maharashtra
Jute	Assam	Bihar	West Bengal
Maize	Bihar	Madhya Pradesh	Karnataka
Moong	Tamilnadu	Andhra Pradesh	Rajasthan
Niger Seed	Chhattisgarh	Orissa	Madhya Pradesh
Other Pulses	Rajasthan	Uttar Pradesh	Madhya Pradesh
Pulses	Maharashtra	Rajasthan	Madhya Pradesh
Ragi	Uttarakhand	Tamilnadu	Karnataka
Rice	Punjab	Uttar Pradesh	West Bengal
Sesamum	Uttar Pradesh	Madhya Pradesh	West Bengal
Small Millets Kharif	Andhra Pradesh	Madhya Pradesh	Uttarakhand
Soybean	Rajasthan	Maharashtra	Madhya Pradesh
Sugarcane	Karnataka	Maharashtra	Uttar Pradesh
Sunflower	Andhra Pradesh	Haryana	Karnataka
Tea	Tamilnadu	West Bengal	Assam
Tobacco	Assam	Bihar	West Bengal
Tur	Karnataka	Maharashtra	Madhya Pradesh
Urad	Tamilnadu	Andhra Pradesh	Madhya Pradesh
Wheat	Punjab	Madhya Pradesh	Uttar Pradesh

Types of Crops in India – Conclusion

You need to know the various types of crops in India as this information is critical for general knowledge.  Do remember that based on various factors, you can make several different categorizations of crops in India. 

Types of Crops in India – FAQs