Agriculture — II: Food Crops

ICSE Class 10 · Geography · Chapter 13

What this chapter covers

Food crops of India
Rice: climatic conditions and soil requirements
Rice: methods of cultivation
Rice: distribution
Wheat: climatic conditions and soil requirements
Wheat: methods of cultivation
Wheat: distribution
Millets: jowar, bajra and ragi
Pulses: gram and tur
Comparing the four food crops
Common mistakes to avoid

Key points

Food crops are grown mainly to feed people; the four in the syllabus are rice, wheat, millets and pulses.
Rice is a kharif crop needing 20–27 °C, 100–200 cm of rain or irrigation, standing water and clayey alluvial soil.
Rice is grown by broadcasting, drilling, dibbling, transplanting and the Japanese method; transplanting gives the best yields.
West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab lead in rice; the east relies on rain, Punjab and Haryana on irrigation.
Wheat is a rabi crop needing 10–15 °C at sowing, 20–25 °C at ripening, 50–75 cm of rain and well-drained loam or black soil.
Wheat is drilled in October and November, irrigated four to six times and harvested in March and April, often by combines.
Uttar Pradesh is the largest wheat producer, Madhya Pradesh second; Punjab has the highest yield and is the granary of India.
Millets are hardy, nutritious dry crops: jowar leads in Maharashtra, bajra in Rajasthan and ragi in Karnataka.
Pulses fix nitrogen, supply protein and are rotated with cereals; gram is rabi, tur is kharif.
Madhya Pradesh leads in pulses and in gram; Maharashtra leads in tur.

Questions answered

Define a food crop and name four food crops grown in India.

A food crop is a crop grown mainly to be eaten by people, either as a staple grain or as a source of protein, rather than for sale as industrial raw material. Rice, wheat, jowar and gram are four food crops of India.

State the climatic conditions required for the cultivation of rice.

Rice needs high temperatures of about 20 °C to 27 °C throughout its growth, warm sunny weather at ripening, and heavy rainfall of 100 cm to 200 cm, or irrigation that keeps the fields under about 10 cm of standing water in the early stages.

Why does rice grow well in clayey soil?

Clayey soil is not porous, so it holds the standing water that rice needs for a long time and does not let it drain away quickly.

What is transplanting? Give one advantage of this method.

Transplanting is the method of cultivation in which rice seeds are first sown in a nursery and the young seedlings are later planted by hand in the main flooded field. It gives well-spaced, healthy plants and therefore a higher yield per hectare.

Name the three rice crops of West Bengal and state when the main crop is harvested.

Aus, aman and boro. Aman, the main winter crop, is harvested in November and December.

State the temperature conditions needed by wheat at sowing and at ripening.

Wheat needs a cool temperature of about 10 °C to 15 °C at sowing and a warm, dry temperature of about 20 °C to 25 °C with bright sunshine at ripening.

How do the western disturbances help the wheat crop?

They bring light winter showers to Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh during the rabi season, which supply moisture to the growing wheat just when it needs it.

Name the two leading wheat-producing states of India and the soil on which each grows wheat.

Uttar Pradesh, which grows wheat on alluvial soil, and Madhya Pradesh, which grows much of its wheat on black soil.

Past board exam questions

ICSE 2026 board paper · 1 mark

The residue of __________ forms an important part of the cattle feed and manure.

groundnut
coffee
jute
pulses

Show answer

groundnut

ICSE 2026 board paper · 3 marks

(a) Name the cropping season in which Bajra is grown. (b) Why is wheat not cultivated extensively in West Bengal and the extreme southern states of India? (c) Why is the cultivation of soyabean gaining popularity in recent times?

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(a) Kharif. (b) Wheat needs a cool, moist growing season (about 10-15°C) with bright sunshine at ripening; West Bengal and the extreme south have high temperatures and humidity with no real cool winter, and rice is better suited and preferred there. (c) Soyabean is rich in protein (about 40%) and oil, and is used for edible oil, nutritious foods and cattle feed, so it has a growing market and export demand; it is a short-duration leguminous crop that enriches the soil with nitrogen.

ICSE 2025 compartment paper · 1 mark

Assertion (A): Millets are mostly cultivated in the drier parts of India. Reason (R): Millets are drought and heat-resistant crops.

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) does not explain (A).
(A) is true but (R) is false.
(A) is false but (R) is true.

Show answer

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

ICSE 2025 sample paper · 3 marks

With reference to cultivation of pulses answer the following: (a) Name a soil found suitable for the growth of pulses. (b) Name any two varieties of pulses grown in India. (c) Give a reason why is it a popular food crop of India.

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(a) Loamy alluvial soil (pulses also grow on black soil, and on red and laterite soils with irrigation). (b) Gram (chana) and arhar (tur) (also moong, masoor, urad). (c) Pulses are the main source of plant protein in the largely vegetarian Indian diet (being leguminous, they also restore soil nitrogen and grow in dry conditions).

ICSE 2025 board paper · 2 marks

Mention two climatic conditions that favour the cultivation of groundnut.

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1. Temperature of 20 °C to 30 °C with plenty of sunshine and no frost. 2. Moderate rainfall of 50 to 75 cm, well distributed.

ICSE 2025 compartment paper · 3 marks

With reference to rice cultivation in India, answer the following questions: (a) Which is the largest rice producing state in India? (b) Mention any two geographical conditions required for growing rice.

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(a) West Bengal. (b) Any two: high temperature of 20 °C–27 °C (above 25 °C); heavy rainfall of 150–200 cm, or irrigation where rainfall is less; fertile clayey or alluvial soil that retains water; flat land so that water can stand in the fields; cheap and plentiful labour.

ICSE 2025 board paper · 2 marks

Give any two reasons why Maharashtra has emerged as an important sugarcane producing state.

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1. The fertile, moisture-retentive black soil and the tropical climate with high temperature throughout the year give a long growing season and higher yields. 2. Well-developed irrigation and a large number of co-operative sugar mills near the cane fields.

ICSE 2024 sample paper · 1 mark

Which crop is associated with Ratooning?

Sugarcane
Jute
Rice
Cotton

Show answer

Sugarcane