Jowar
Also called: Sorghum · Topic: Major Crops of India: Distribution and Conditions · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "Agriculture"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Jowar (sorghum) is a coarse cereal. It is mostly rainfed, which means it depends on rain and not on irrigation. It covers about 5.3% of the cropped area. By area and output, it is India's third most important food crop. It is the main food grain of semi-arid central and southern India. Semi-arid means fairly dry, with low rainfall. In the south it is grown in both kharif and rabi. In the north it is mainly a kharif crop grown as fodder (animal feed).
Example
Maharashtra grows over half of India's jowar. Much of it comes from the dry black-soil plateau of the Deccan. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana follow.
Don't confuse with
- Bajra: this is pearl millet of the hot, sandy north-west, where Rajasthan leads. Jowar belongs to the semi-arid Deccan, where Maharashtra leads.