Pulses, oilseeds, fibres and plantation crops

• Pulses (about 11 per cent of the cropped area) are rich in protein, and they fix nitrogen, improving the soil. The main ones are gram (a rabi crop) and tur (red gram).
• Oilseeds (about 14 per cent): groundnut, rapeseed and mustard, soyabean (about 90 per cent from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) and sunflower.
• Cotton: a kharif crop of semi-arid areas.
• Jute: West Bengal grows about three-quarters of India's crop.
• Sugarcane: Uttar Pradesh grows about two-fifths of India's crop, though yields are higher in the south.
• Tea: plantations began in the 1840s in Assam's Brahmaputra valley.
• Coffee: Karnataka grows over two-thirds, mostly of the arabica variety.

Each crop has its home: the place whose soil, climate and water suit it best.