Cereals
Topic: Major Crops of India: Distribution and Conditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Cereals are grass crops grown for their grain, like rice and wheat. In India they cover about 54% of the cropped area. Cropped area means the total land sown with crops. Cereals come in two kinds. Fine grains are rice and wheat. Coarse grains are hardy crops like jowar, bajra, maize and ragi. NCERT says India grew about 11% of the world's cereals and ranked third after China and the USA (verify current). Cereals matter because they are the main food of most Indians.
Example
Punjab and Haryana in the north-west grow wheat in winter and rice in the monsoon season. Both are fine grains. In dry Rajasthan, farmers mostly grow bajra, which is a coarse grain.
Don't confuse with
- Foodgrains: this group means cereals and pulses together. Cereals are only one part of foodgrains.
- Millets: these are a group of coarse cereals, such as jowar, bajra and ragi. Rice and wheat are not millets.