Rabi crops
Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Rabi crops are sown in winter, around October-December, and harvested in spring. They grow in the cool season and usually need irrigation or leftover soil moisture, because there is little rain then. Wheat, mustard, gram and barley are common rabi crops. Wheat was the main crop of Phase I of the Green Revolution.
Example
Farmers in Punjab-Haryana sow wheat after harvesting kharif paddy. Since 2009, a Punjab law has banned early paddy transplanting to save groundwater. This pushed the paddy harvest into late October and left very little time before wheat sowing, so many farmers burn the paddy stubble to clear their fields quickly.
Don't confuse with
- Kharif crops: these are sown with the monsoon (June-July) and harvested in September-October, for example rice, maize, cotton and soybean.
Related concepts
- Green Revolution
- High-yielding variety seeds
- Research and extension
- Farm mechanisation
- Crop yield
- Seed replacement rate
- Kharif crops
- Zaid crops
- Multiple cropping
- Net sown area