Farming in India

Rice is the basic food crop and being a tropical plant, it flourishes comfortably in a hot and humid climate. Rice is mainly grown in rain-fed areas that receive heavy annual rainfall. That is why it is fundamentally a kharif crop in India.

Rice is one of the chief grains of India. Moreover, this country has the largest area under rice cultivation. As it is one of the principal food crops. It is, in fact, the dominant crop of the country. India is one of the leading producers of this crop. Rice is the basic food crop and being a tropical plant, it flourishes comfortably in a hot and humid climate. Rice is mainly grown in rain-fed areas that receive heavy annual rainfall. That is why it is fundamentally a kharif crop in India. It demands a temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius and above, and rainfall of more than 100 cm. Rice is also grown through irrigation in those areas that receive comparatively less rainfall.[citation needed] Rice is the staple food of eastern and southern parts of India.

Rice can be cultivated by different methods based on the type of region. But in India, traditional methods are still in use for harvesting rice. The fields are initially plowed and fertilizer is applied which typically consists of cow dung, and then the field is smoothed. The seeds are transplanted by hand and then through proper irrigation, the seeds are cultivated. Rice grows on a variety of soils like silts, loams and gravels. It can tolerate alkaline as well as acid soils. However, clayey loam is well suited to the raising of this crop. Actually, the clayey soil can be easily converted into the mud in which rice seedlings can be transplanted easily. Proper care has to be taken as this crop thrives if the soil remains wet and is underwater during its growing years. Rice fields should be level and should have low mud walls for retaining water. In the plain areas, excess rainwater is allowed to inundate the rice fields and flow slowly. Rice raised in the well-watered lowland areas is known as lowland or wet rice. In the hilly areas, slopes are cut into terraces for the cultivation of rice. Thus, the rice grown in the hilly areas is known as dry or upland rice. The yield of upland rice per hectare is comparatively less than that of wet rice.