01.

IMPORTANCE AND AREA, PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MAJOR

CEREALS, MILLETS, PULSES AND OILSEEDS OF INDIA

IMPORTANCE
CEREALS
The word Cereal derives from Ceres, the name of the Roman goddess of harvest and
agriculture. Cereals are grasses (members of the monocot family Poaceae, also known as
Gramineae) cultivated for the edible components of their grain (botanically, a type of fruit called
a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ and bran. Cereal grains are grown in greater
quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop, they are
therefore staple crops.

In their natural form (as in whole grain), they are a rich source of carbohydrates,
vitamins, minerals, fats, oils and protein. However, when refined by the removal of the bran and
germ, the remaining endosperm is mostly carbohydrate and lacks the majority of the other
nutrients. In some developing nations, grain in the form of rice, wheat, millet or maize
constitutes a majority of daily sustenance. In developed nations, cereal consumption is moderate
and varied but still substantial. Globally, more than 2000 m.t. of cereals are produced from about
700 m. ha with the average productivity of about 3000 kg/ha.

PULSES
Pulses may be defined as the dried edible seeds of cultivated legumes. They belong to the
family of peas, beans and lentils (Family: Fabaceae). English word pulse is taken from the Latin
Puls, meaning pouage or thick pap. The pulses are a large family and various species are capable
or surviving in very different climates and soils.

Pulses are cultivated in all parts of the world and they occupy an important place in
human diet. In India, especially people who are mostly vegetarian depend largely on cereals and
pulses as their staple food, which serve as the main source of dietary protein and energy.

Pulses contain more protein than any other plant. They serve as a low-cost protein to
meet the needs of the large section of the people. They have, therefore, been justifiably described
as 'the poor man's meat'. Their low moisture content and hard test or seed-coat permits storage
over long periods. In addition to providing dry pulses, many of the crops are grown for their
green edible pods and un-ripe seeds. Nutritionally, immature fruits have distinctly different
properties to those of the mature seed; the protein content is lower, but, they are relatively richer
in some of the crops are used as pot herbs.

In general, pulses contain 20 to 28% protein with the exception of soybean which has as
much as 42%. Their carbohydrate content is about 60% except soybean which has about 30%.
Pulses are also fairly good sources of thiamin and niacin and provide calcium, phosphorus and
iron. On an average, 100 g of pulses contain 345 Kcal of energy, 24.5 g of protein, 140 mg of
calcium, 300 mg of phosphorus, 8 mg of iron, 0.5 mg of thiamin, 0.3 mg of riboflavin and 2 mg
of niacin.
OILSEEDS
Oilseeds are important as are the pulses in the country. The principal oilseeds include
groundnuts, rapeseeds and mustard seeds. While the former is a Kharif crop, depending wholly
upon reasonable but timely rainfall, the latter is a Rabi crop, fundamentally confined only to non-
irrigated areas. As a result their production as well as productivity is subject to climatic
variations and market hypotheses. The other oilseeds incorporate sesame, linseed, caster seed,
safflower seed, soybeans, sunflower seeds, cotton seeds and copra. Rapeseeds and mustard seeds
belong to the wheat belt of north and central India. Groundnut, on the other hand, is grown in
west and south India. Gujarat is the dominant producer of groundnut. While population has been
mounting at 2% per annum, the demand for oil has been rising at 5% every year.

AREA, PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY IN INDIA

Rice
Area
Production Productivity
State (million Rank Rank Rank
(million tonnes) (kg/ha)
hectares)
West Bengal 5.63 I 14.34 I 2547
Punjab 2.80 11.24 II 4014 I
Uttar Pradesh 5.19 II 10.81 III 2083
Andhra Pradesh 3.44 10.54 3064 III
Odisha 4.37 III 6.92 1584
Tamil Nadu 1.85 5.67 3065 II
Assam 2.50 4.34 1736
Chattisgarh 3.67 4.11 1120
Karnataka 1.49 3.69 2477
Haryana 1.21 3.63 3000
Bihar 3.21 3.60 1121
Maharashtra 1.47 2.18 1483
Jharkhand 1.00 1.54 1540
Gujarat 0.68 1.29 1897
Madhya Pradesh 1.45 1.26 869
Kerala 0.23 0.60 2609
Others 1.75 3.35 1914
All India 41.92 89.09 2125
Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (2010-11)

Wheat
Area
Production Productivity
State (million Rank Rank Rank
(million tonnes) (kg/ha)
hectare)
Uttar Pradesh 9.67 I 27.52 I 2846
Punjab 3.52 III 15.17 II 4310 I
Haryana 2.49 10.50 III 4217 II
Madhya Pradesh 4.28 II 8.41 1965
Rajasthan 2.39 7.50 3138 III
Bihar 2.19 4.57 2087
Gujarat 0.88 2.35 2670
Maharashtra 1.08 1.74 1611
West Bengal 0.32 0.85 2656
Uttarakhand 0.40 0.85 2125
Himachal Pradesh 0.35 0.33 943
Jammu & Kashmir 0.29 0.29 1000
Karnataka 0.28 0.25 893
Jharkhand 0.10 0.17 1700
Assam 0.06 0.06 1000
Others 0.16 0.25 1563
All India 28.46 80.80 2839
Maize
Area Production
Productivity
State (million Rank (million Rank Rank
(kg/ha)
hectare) tonnes)
Karnataka 1.24 I 3.01 I 2430
Andhra Pradesh 0.78 2.76 II 3527 III
Maharashtra 0.79 1.83 III 2302
Bihar 0.63 1.48 2341
Rajasthan 1.10 II 1.15 1044
Tamil Nadu 0.24 1.14 4686 I
Madhya Pradesh 0.83 III 1.05 1256
Uttar Pradesh 0.71 1.04 1465
Himachal Pradesh 0.30 0.54 1839
Gujarat 0.50 0.53 1072
Jammu & Kashmir 0.31 0.49 1566
Punjab 0.14 0.48 3417
West Bengal 0.10 0.39 3943 II
Jharkhand 0.16 0.19 1169
Others 0.43 0.65 @
All India 8.26 16.72 2024
@ - Since area/ production is low in individual states, yield rate is not worked out.

Sorghum
Area Production
Productivity
State (million Rank (million Rank Rank
(kg/ha)
hectare) tonnes)
Maharashtra 4.18 I 3.57 I 854
Karnataka 1.37 II 1.41 II 1027
Madhya Pradesh 0.45 0.56 III 1267 I
Andhra Pradesh 0.39 0.44 1135 II
Tamil Nadu 0.24 0.22 929
Gujarat 0.16 0.17 1049 III
Uttar Pradesh 0.19 0.17 885
Rajasthan 0.72 III 0.10 145
Haryana 0.07 0.04 500
Orissa 0.01 0.01 644
Others 0.02 0.02 1000
All India 7.79 6.70 860
Pearl millet
Area Production
Productivity
State (million Rank (million Rank Rank
(kg/ha)
hectare) tonnes)
Rajasthan 5.17 I 2.03 I 394
Uttar Pradesh 0.85 III 1.39 II 1638 I
Haryana 0.59 0.93 III 1593 II
Gujarat 0.67 0.83 1232
Maharashtra 1.03 II 0.77 741
Madhya Pradesh 0.17 0.25 1495
Karnataka 0.31 0.15 502
Tamil Nadu 0.05 0.08 1513 III
Andhra Pradesh 0.05 0.05 1178
Jammu & Kashmir 0.02 0.01 626
Others 0.01 0.01 @
All India 8.90 6.51 731

Area, Production and productivity of total cereals in India (2010-11)

State Area Production

Productivity
(million Rank (million Rank Rank
(kg/ha)
hectare) tonnes)
Andhra Pradesh 5.90 18.88 III 3200
Arunachal Pradesh 0.19 0.32 1690
Assam 2.64 4.81 1821
Bihar 5.62 8.68 1544
Chhattisgarh 4.09 6.52 1592
Goa 0.14 0.40 2873
Gujarat 3.64 7.62 2096
Haryana 4.54 16.47 3628 III
Himachal Pradesh 0.76 1.38 1813
Jammu & Kashmir 0.90 1.50 1673
Jharkhand 1.07 1.55 1450
Karnataka 5.45 12.31 2260
Kerala 0.22 0.52 2428
Madhya Pradesh 7.70 11.57 1502
Maharashtra 8.99 III 12.32 1370
Manipur 0.24 0.57 2397
Meghalaya 0.13 0.24 1836
Mizoram 0.05 0.06 1223
Nagaland 0.26 0.53 2012
Orissa 4.44 7.19 1620
Punjab 6.49 27.85 II 4291 I
Rajasthan 10.31 II 15.57 1510
Sikkim 0.06 0.10 1563
Tamil Nadu 2.54 7.35 2897
Tripura 0.27 0.71 2639
Uttar Pradesh 17.36 I 45.21 I 2605
Uttarakhand 0.93 1.76 1906
West Bengal 5.37 14.29 2664
A & N Islands 0.01 0.02 2836
D & N Haveli 0.01 0.02 1867
Delhi 0.04 0.15 3937 II
Daman & Diu 0.00 0.00 1609
Pondicherry 0.02 0.05 2599
All India 100.36 226.54 2257

PULSES
Area Production
Productivity
State (million Rank (million Rank Rank
(kg/ha)
hectare) tonnes)
Madhya Pradesh 4.94 I 4.30 I 871 I
Maharashtra 3.38 II 2.37 II 702
Uttar Pradesh 2.54 III 1.90 III 748
Andhra Pradesh 1.93 1.43 740
Karnataka 2.48 1.12 451
Rajasthan 3.50 0.71 204
Gujarat 0.73 0.52 705
Chhattisgarh 0.81 0.49 604
Bihar 0.56 0.47 836 II
Orissa 0.87 0.40 461
Jharkhand 0.32 0.22 709
Tamil Nadu 0.53 0.20 382
West Bengal 0.18 0.15 826 III
Haryana 0.13 0.10 758
Others 0.37 0.27 @
All India 23.28 14.66 630

OILSEEDS
Area Production Productivity
State Rank Rank Rank
(million hectare) (million tonnes) (kg/ha)
Madhya Pradesh 6.77 I 7.64 I 1129
Rajasthan 4.13 II 4.41 II 1066
Gujarat 2.79 3.10 III 1109
Maharashtra 3.88 III 2.81 725
Andhra Pradesh 2.07 1.50 724
Karnataka 2.00 1.01 502
Tamil Nadu 0.50 0.94 1898 I
Haryana 0.53 0.88 1645 II
Uttar Pradesh 1.08 0.82 753
West Bengal 0.68 0.73 1065
Orissa 0.29 0.17 589
Assam 0.28 0.14 526
Bihar 0.14 0.14 1042
Punjab 0.06 0.08 1354 III
Others 0.75 0.52 @
All India 25.96 24.88 959