Rabi Crops and Kharif Crops – Season, Examples, Chart

Overview of Rabi Crops and Karif Crops

In India, there are three major types of crops: Zaid, Rabi crops, and Kharif Crops. The Rabi crops and Kharif crops are the major sources of subsistence in India. The Rabi crops are spring crops, whereas the Kharif crops are monsoon crops.

What are Crops?

Crops are special kinds of plants or their products. The crops are primarily produced and harvested for subsistence or commercial trading purposes. In India, farming came into existence around 9000 BC, where wheat, barley, and jujube were primarily cultivated.

Rabi and Kharif Crops UPSC PDF

Crops can be of the following categories:

• Food crops
• Feed crops,
• Fibre crops,
• Oil crops,
• Ornamental crops, and
• Industrial crops.

Important Rabi and Kharif Crops Name

The above-mentioned 6 different types of crops can further be classified into three major categories as per the season they are cultivated and harvested in. The season-based category of crops is Zaid, Rabi, and Kharif crops. The table provided below consists of the important Rabi and Kharif crop names sown in India in their respective seasons:

Kharif Crops Name	Rabi Crops Name
Jowar	Onion
Castor	Cumin
Guar (F)	Lucerne
Arhar	Oat
Soyabean	Tomato
Hy Cotton	Wheat
Chilly	Fenugreek
Nagali	Coriander
Sesamum	Mustard
Maize	Fennel
Urid	Potato
Cotton	Gram
Paddy	Maize
Bajra	Isabgol

What is Kharif Crop?

Kharif crop is a monsoon crop cultivated in the Indian subcontinent during the monsoon season. The word is taken from the Arabic language, where Kharif means autumn. The significance of this word is that a crop is sown in monsoon and reaped close to Autumn. The sowing of Kharif started with the first rain of the monsoon.

About Kharif Crops

Kharif crops require a heavy amount of water to cultivate, which is why they are sown in the rainy season with abundant rainfall. A few of the Kharif crops are Peaches, Brinjal, and Cotton. Sarda, Sponge gourd, Guar, etc.

Kharif Season Months or Kharif Crops Season

Kharif crop is sown in the monsoon season. The sowing of the Kharif crop begins with rainfall in Late May or the start of June. The Kharif season ends with the harvesting of the crops from October–November.

• The major factor in this crop is the monsoon, as the water requirement for the Kharif crop is high, which is fulfilled by rain precipitation.
• In India, Monsoon enters around May, reaching Mumbai around June and Delhi at the end of June.
• The ending of the monsoon may extend to the latest January. The good monsoon season brings a boom in the Indian economy as around 600 million people participate in agriculture and 20% of the national GDP depends on agriculture.

Kharif Crops Examples

In India, there are vast types of Kharif crops. Types of Kharif crops are not the same throughout the country. Depending on the location, weather conditions, natural vegetation, and soil conditions, different Kharif crops are produced all over India. These crops heavily depend on the amount of rain.

Kharif Crops Chart

Check out more than 20 examples of Kharif crops provided here. The list of Kharif crops is given below for various categories of crops produced in various parts of India.

Fruits		Vegetables	Seed Plants	Cereals
Almonds	Plums	Bitter gourd (karela)	Arhar (tur)	Jowar
Apples	Pears	Bottle gourd	Black gram (urad)	Maize (corn)
Jaman	Phalsa	Turmeric	Soybean	Millet
Bananas	Papaya	Chili	Cowpea	Rice (paddy and deepwater rice)
Apricots	Peaches	Brinjal	Cotton
Coconut	Sarda	Sponge gourd	Guar
Cantaloupe	Sugarcane	Green bean	Green gram (moong)
Chikoo	Walnut	Ladies’ fingers	Groundnut
Guava	Watermelon	Tinda	Sesame (til)
Figs	Luffa	Tomato	Mung bean
Mango	Orange		Fennel (Saunf)
Litchi	Muskmelon		Urad bean
Dates	Pomegranate		Moth bean
			Red gram (Pigeon pea)

What is Rabi Crop?

The second type of crop is the Rabi crop. This is known as the winter crop because it is sown this season. Rabi crop is harvested in the spring season. The Rabi name is also driven from the Arabic language; Rabi means spring. The significance of this is that it is harvested in that season.

About Rabi Crops

Rabi crops are planted after the monsoon season, generally in November. The water requirements for these crops are less than for the Kharif crops. These crops are less affected by rain precipitation.

Rabi Crop Season

Rabi crop grows in cold weather with adequate water. The soil moisture during the Rabi crop sowing is good since it is done just after the monsoon season. The crop is harvested during the month of April.

• These crops require warm weather to grow, which is why they are fully grown and harvested in April.
• Rabi crop season is known for the crops such as wheat, barley, peas, etc.
• Mustard is another Rabi crop. This crop is widely used in Indian households for cooking purposes. Mustard requires a dry and cool climate to grow.

Rabi Crops Examples

India is known for its variety of Rabi crops. As in India, varieties of Kharif crops are seen similarly. Various Rabi crops exist in India.

Cereals	Legumes / lentils (dal)	Fruits		Seed plants	Vegetables
barley	chickpea	guava	grape fruit	alfalfa	bean	garlic (lehsun)
Wheat	pigeon pea	date	mandarin orange	mustard	capsicum[6]	potato
mustard	masoor	banana	kinnow	fenugreek	broccoli	pea
gram	kulthi	orange	lemon	coriander	beetroot	lady finger
oat	mung bean	ber	lime	linseed	cabbage	onion
rapeseed	lobias	grape	mulberries	cumin	brinjal (baingan)	lettuce
Linseed	toria		mangoes	isabgol	carrot (gajar)	radish (mooli)
	Urad bean			Bengal gram	chickpea	sweet potato
				sunflower	cauliflowers (gobhi)	spinach (palak)
				red gram	fenugreek (methi)	tomato
				black pepper		turnip (shalgum)

Rabi and Kharif Difference

Aspirants can expect a few questions based on the Rabi and Kharif crop in the upcoming exams. Here are the Rabi and Kharif crops UPSC chart focusing on differences prepared to help candidates quickly review the concepts for the exam.

Particulars	Kharif Crops	Rabi Crops
Weather Conditions	Moist conditions	Dry conditions
Season	May – November	October – April
Sowing Time	Seeds are sown at the beginning of the monsoon season.	Seeds are sown at the beginning of the winter
Major Producing States	Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu	Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, MP, Punjab, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
Harvesting Time	End of the monsoon.	End of the winter around April.
Examples	are Jowar, Maize, Cotton, Bajra, Sugarcane, and Groundnut.	Linseed, Barley, Wheat, Cereals, and Mustard

Rabi And Kharif Crops For UPSC Exam

The aspirants must have an in-depth knowledge of Rabi crops and Kharif crops to perform exceptionally well in the exam. The aspirants can download the UPSC PDF for the exam and move ahead on the path of comprehensive preparation.

Candidates must be well versed in the difference between rabi and Kharif crops. This topic frames out to be an essential segment of the syllabus. It is highly recommended to the candidates practice the previous year’s papers to get ahead on the path of preparation.

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