Sugarcane, tea, coffee and rubber

Detail

Conditions at a glance

Crop	Type	Temperature	Rainfall and climate	Soil	Main areas (by rank)
Sugarcane	Tropical and subtropical cash crop	21–27°C, hot and humid	75–100 cm; irrigated where rain is lower	Many soil types	Uttar Pradesh (about two-fifths), Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
Tea	Plantation beverage crop	Warm and frost-free all year	Frequent showers spread evenly through the year	Deep, fertile, well-drained, rich in humus	Assam, West Bengal (Darjeeling–Jalpaiguri), Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris)
Coffee	Tropical plantation beverage crop	Tropical, warm	Hill highlands	Well-drained hill slopes	Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu
Rubber	Equatorial industrial crop	Above 25°C	Over 200 cm; moist and humid	—	Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Garo hills (Meghalaya)

• Plantation agriculture means one crop grown on a large estate, for sale and often for export. It uses a lot of labour and money. It is closely linked to factories that process the crop. Tea, coffee and rubber are plantation crops.
• Commodity Boards are the bodies set up to develop and regulate each crop:
• Coffee Board (1942)
• Rubber Board (1947)
• Tea Board (1953)

Sugarcane

• Sugarcane is a tall, thick grass. Its stem stores sweet juice. Sugar, gur (solid unrefined sugar made by boiling cane juice), khandsari (a semi-refined, loose, light-coloured sugar) and molasses are made from it.

• Molasses is the dark syrup left after the sugar is taken out. It is used to make ethanol and alcohol.

• Conditions

• It needs a hot and humid climate, 21–27°C, and 75–100 cm of rain.
• Where rain is lower, it is irrigated.
• It grows on many types of soil.
• It needs a lot of labour, from sowing to harvesting.

• It takes almost a year to grow, so it ties up the field for a long time.

• Irrigation and area

• In India, sugarcane is mostly irrigated. It covers only 2.4% of the cropped area (NCERT).

• Area under cane grew from 49.27 lakh ha (2015-16) to 58.87 lakh ha (2025-26) [3].

• World position

• NCERT: India was second after Brazil, with 19.7% of world cane output (2018).
• India became the world's largest producer and consumer of sugar, and the 2nd-largest exporter of sugar, in sugar season 2021-22 [4].

• India's cane output reached about 500 million tonnes in 2025-26 (Third Advance Estimates) [3].

• Distribution

Belt	States	Why
North (Indo-Gangetic plain)	Uttar Pradesh (about two-fifths of output), Punjab, Haryana, Bihar	Flat alluvial plains with canal and tube-well irrigation
West	Maharashtra, Gujarat	Black soil, irrigation and strong cooperative sugar mills
South	Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh	Tropical climate and a long growing season

• Why yields are higher in the south than in the north
• The south has a tropical climate with no cold winter, so the cane grows all year.
• The crop stays longer in the field, so it gives more juice and more sugar.
• Farm management is better.

• In the north, cold winters slow growth, so yields are low.

• Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) is the lowest price that sugar mills must, by law, pay farmers for their cane. The Union government fixes it every year.

• FRP rose from ₹285 per quintal (2020-21) to ₹340 (2024-25) and ₹355 (2025-26) [3].

• The Cabinet approved ₹365 per quintal for 2026-27 [2].

• Ethanol and water

• Ethanol blending means mixing ethanol made from cane or grain into petrol. This cuts oil imports.
• Sugar diverted to ethanol fell from about 12% (2022-23) to about 9% (2025-26) [3].
• About three-fourths of India's ethanol now comes from grains, mainly maize [3].
• Sugarcane uses a lot of water. In Maharashtra, much of the cane grows in drought-prone areas that depend on rain-shadow irrigation. This puts heavy pressure on groundwater and dams.

Tea

• Tea is a plantation beverage crop. Its tender leaves are picked and processed into tea.
• Origin: tea is native to the hills of northern China. The British brought it to India.
• Conditions
• It needs a tropical or subtropical climate.
• The climate must be warm, moist and frost-free all year.
• Frequent showers spread evenly through the year keep the bushes putting out soft new leaves.
• It needs deep, fertile, well-drained soil rich in humus (dark organic matter from rotted plants).

• Slopes are best, because water must not stand at the roots.

• Labour and processing

• It needs many workers, mostly women, to pluck the leaves by hand.

• The leaves are processed inside the tea garden, because fresh leaves spoil quickly.

• Spread over time

• 1840s: the first plantations began in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam.
• Next: the sub-Himalayan districts of West Bengal, namely Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar (the Duars–Terai belt).
• Then: the Nilgiri and Cardamom hills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

• Minor areas: Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura.

• Ranking among states

• Assam has about 53% of the tea area and gives over half the output.
• It is followed by West Bengal and then Tamil Nadu.

• Kerala and Karnataka also grow tea [5].

• World position

• NCERT: India grew about 21% of world tea (2018) and ranked second after China.
• India is still the second-largest producer [5].
• Output was 1.203 million tonnes in April–December 2024-25 [5].
• India's share of world tea exports has fallen. Kenya and Sri Lanka lead world exports.

• Tea exports were US$ 605.90 million in April–October 2025-26, up 15.16% on the same months a year earlier [5].

• Geographical Indication (GI) is a legal tag for a product whose quality comes from the place where it is made.

• Darjeeling tea was India's first GI (2004-05).

Coffee

• Coffee is a tropical plantation beverage crop. Its seeds (beans) are roasted and ground.
• Three varieties

Variety	Features	In India
Arabica	High quality and mild taste; grows at higher altitudes	India's traditional, prized coffee
Robusta	Hardier and stronger; grows at lower altitudes	Now the larger share of India's output
Liberica	Coarse; rarely grown	Negligible

• History: arabica seed was brought from Yemen. It was first planted on the Baba Budan hills in Chikmagalur, Karnataka.
• Conditions
• It grows in a warm tropical climate on the highlands of the Western Ghats.

• It grows under shade trees, on well-drained hill slopes.

• Distribution

• Karnataka gives over two-thirds of the output (NCERT).
• Karnataka produced 2,48,020 tonnes in 2022-23. It has about 54% of the country's coffee growing, Kerala 19% and Tamil Nadu 8% [11].
• Main districts: Kodagu (Coorg), Chikmagalur and Hassan in Karnataka; Wayanad in Kerala; Nilgiris and Pulney hills in Tamil Nadu.

• Trap: the Class 10 NCERT text says "Nilgiri in Karnataka". The Nilgiris are in Tamil Nadu.

• World position

• NCERT: India ranked eighth with 3.17% of world output (2018). The seven ahead of it were Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia, Honduras, Ethiopia and Peru.
• India is now the seventh-largest producer, with about 3.5% of world output [6].
• It produces about 0.36 million tonnes a year. Nearly 70% is exported, to 128 countries [6].

• Coffee exports hit a record US$ 1.8 billion in 2024-25, about 40% more than US$ 1.29 billion the year before [6].

• Shade-grown coffee

• Coffee bushes grow under a canopy of native trees and silver oak.
• This is a type of agroforestry (growing trees and crops together on the same land).

• It protects the soil, keeps birds and wildlife, and keeps the Western Ghats green.

• GI coffees: five Indian regional coffees got GI tags [7]:

• Coorg Arabica
• Wayanad Robusta
• Chikmagalur Arabica
• Araku Valley Arabica

• Bababudangiris Arabica

• Araku Valley Arabica

• It grows on the hills of the Visakhapatnam region of Andhra Pradesh and nearby Odisha, at 900–1,100 m.
• About 1.5 lakh tribal farmers grow it [7][8].
• It is a non-traditional coffee area, outside the Western Ghats, in the Eastern Ghats.

Rubber

• Natural rubber is the milky sap called latex that is tapped from the rubber tree. It is an industrial raw material, used mostly to make tyres.
• Type: it is an equatorial crop (native to the hot, wet lands near the equator). In India, it also grows in some tropical and subtropical areas with special conditions.
• Conditions
• It needs over 200 cm of rain and over 25°C.

• The climate must be moist and humid.

• Main areas: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Garo hills of Meghalaya.

• Ranking
• Kerala is the largest producer. It made 4,90,460 tonnes in 2018-19 [9].
• Tripura is now second. It made 53,050 tonnes (2018-19), about 9% of India's output [9].

• Rubber is spreading across the north-east with Rubber Board support.

• Why India imports rubber

• India uses more natural rubber than it grows, so it is a net importer.
• In 2015-16, it produced 5,62,000 tonnes but used 9,94,415 tonnes, and imported 4,58,374 tonnes [10].
• Imports also rise because block rubber is cheaper abroad than sheet rubber at home [10].

Prelims Hooks

• Temperature–rainfall matches: sugarcane 21–27°C and 75–100 cm; rubber above 25°C and over 200 cm. Tea needs frost-free weather all year with evenly spread showers.
• First tea plantations: 1840s, in the Brahmaputra valley, Assam. Tea is native to the hills of northern China.
• Tea states, highest to lowest: Assam (about 53% of the area) > West Bengal > Tamil Nadu.
• India's first GI: Darjeeling tea (2004-05).
• Coffee origin trap: arabica came from Yemen and was first planted on the Baba Budan hills (Karnataka). The Nilgiris are in Tamil Nadu, not Karnataka.
• Five GI coffees: Coorg Arabica, Chikmagalur Arabica, Bababudangiris Arabica, Wayanad Robusta (the only robusta), and Araku Valley Arabica (Andhra Pradesh, Eastern Ghats) [7].
• Rubber producers: Kerala is first and Tripura second, not Tamil Nadu or Karnataka [9].
• Founding years of the Boards, oldest first: Coffee Board (1942) → Rubber Board (1947) → Tea Board (1953).
• Sugar: India has been the world's largest producer and consumer of sugar since 2021-22 [4]. NCERT (2018) puts India second after Brazil for cane output. FRP for 2026-27 is ₹365 per quintal [2].
• Sugarcane yields are higher in the south than in Uttar Pradesh, although Uttar Pradesh grows the most cane.

Mains Points

• Why sugarcane yields differ between north and south (GS-I)
• The tropical south has no winter, so the cane grows longer and gives more sugar. Management is also better there.
• The subtropical north has cold winters, so yields are lower. Even so, the Gangetic plain grows the most cane, because of its large irrigated area.

• Mills are tied to cane areas, because cut cane loses sugar fast. This is why sugar mills cluster in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

• Sugarcane, water and energy (GS-III)

• A rising FRP (₹355 in 2025-26 → ₹365 in 2026-27) [2][3] and ethanol demand push farmers to grow more cane.
• In water-stressed Maharashtra, this drains groundwater.
• Policy is moving ethanol towards maize and other grains, which now give about three-fourths of ethanol. Sugar diverted to ethanol fell to about 9% [3].

• Drip irrigation and moving cane towards water-rich areas are other answers.

• Why plantation crops are found where they are (GS-I)

• Tea, coffee and rubber need hill slopes, heavy rain or frequent showers, and no frost.
• So they cluster in the north-east, the sub-Himalayan foothills of Bengal and the Western Ghats.
• The British history of these crops left an estate system that uses a lot of labour.

• New areas are opening: Tripura and the north-east for rubber, and Araku (with tribal farmers) for coffee [8][9].

• Trade and value addition (GS-III)

• India is second in tea, but its export share has fallen to Kenya and Sri Lanka.
• Coffee exports reached US$ 1.8 billion (2024-25) [6], helped by GI branding [7].
• India still imports natural rubber to make tyres [10].
• Possible answers: GI-based branding, support for small growers, replanting old gardens, and expanding rubber in the north-east.