Estimation of Crop Production In India | Agricultural Seasons in India | FAQ - Seasons of India

 The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June. The Indian cropping season is classified into three main seasons -(i) Kharif and (ii) Rabi (iii) Zaid based on the monsoon.

The terms ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ originate from Arabic language where Kharif means autumn and Rabi means spring. In between the rabi and the kharif seasons, there is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season.

Kharif Season: 

The kharif cropping season is from July –October during the south-west monsoon

Sowing & Harvesting:

Sowing from July – July

Harvest – September to October

Kharif Crops :

• The kharif crops include rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet/bajra, finger millet/ragi (cereals), arhar (pulses), soyabean, groundnut (oilseeds), cotton etc. Such crops require a lot of water for their growth.

Cropping Area:

• Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Recently, paddy has also become an important crop of Punjab and Haryana.

•  In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. These are Aus, Aman and Boro

Rabi Season:

The Rabi cropping season is from October-March (winter).

Sowing & Harvesting:

Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June. 

Rabi Crops :

• The rabi crops include wheat, barley, oats (cereals), chickpea/gram (pulses), linseed, mustard (oilseeds) etc. Generally rabi crops need cold weather for growth and required less water to grow.

Cropping Area:

• Rabi crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and northwestern parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops

Zaid Season :

The Zaid crops grown between March and June are summer crops 

Requires warm & dry weather for growth and a longer day-length for flowering

Zaid Crops: 

• Some of the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops. 

Cropping Area:

•  Most of the Northern and North eastern States in India

Estimation of Crop Production in India :

• In an agricultural year (July-June), the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES), Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture releases four Advance Estimates followed by Final Estimates of production of major agricultural crops of the country.

•  First Advance Estimates, released in September when Kharif sowing is generally over, cover only Kharif crops. 

• Second Advance Estimates are released in February next year when rabi sowing is also over. 

• These estimates covering Kharif as well as rabi crops take into account firmed up figures on kharif area coverage along with available data on crop cutting experiments for yield assessment of Kharif crops and tentative figures on area coverage of rabi crops.

•  Third Advance Estimates incorporating revised data on area coverage for rabi crops and better yield estimates of Kharif crops are released in April-May.

• Fourth Advance Estimates are released in July-August and by this time fully firmed up data on area as well as yield of Kharif crops and rabi crops are expected to be available with the States. 

• As such, Fourth Advance Estimates are considered to be almost as good as Final Estimates released in next February along with Second Advance Estimates for the subsequent agricultural year. In order to allow sufficient time to States to take into account even the delayed information while finalizing area and yield estimates of various crops, the Final Estimates are released about seven months after the Fourth Advance Estimates and no revision in the State level data is accepted after release of Final Estimates by DES.

Frequently Asked Questions :

1.what is the different agricultural season in India?

• The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June. The Indian cropping season is classified into two main seasons-(i) Kharif and (ii) Rabi based on the monsoon.

2.Kharif crops grown in which monsoon ? 

• South-west monsoon season

3.Rabi crops grown in which monsoon?

• North East Monsoon season

2.Which season is important for Indian Agriculture?

• Both season are important for cropping in India. Based on amount of receiving rain is relatively high during south west monsoon. 

3.Different between kharif and rabi season ?

• The kharif cropping season is from July –October during the south-west monsoon
• The Rabi cropping season is from October-March (winter)

4. Which soil suitable for Kharif, Rabi Crop?

• Loamy Soil - Kharif Crop
• Fertile clay loam soil -Rabi crop

5.Which season is short cropping season India?

• Zaid cropping season (Summer Crop)

6. Which crops are grown in both kharif and rabi season?

• Caster

7.Kharif crops are short day plant ?

• Kharif crops require shorter days but longer nights. Kharif crops are called as short-day plants. 

8.Rabi Crops are long day plants?

• Rabi crops require less darkness( longer day). Rabi crops are called as long-day plants