♤ Variety of Crops

Almost every kind of crops are grown in India as it is endowed with a variety of soils. Cash crops have gradually cached up with the production of food crops and more and more farmers are moving from subsistence to commercial farming.

Horticulture crop production (305.4 MT in 2017-18) has recently overtaken the total foodgrain (279.5 MT in 2017-18) production in India. Besides, medicinal plants, fruits, flowers and vegetables are gradually getting special attention due to their demand in food processing and export potential.

Plantation crops are highly profitable but require huge capital and large tracts of land. Thus it is confined to limited parts of country. Emphasis is placed now on production of oilseeds through various initiatives like Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Maize and Oilpalm (ISOPOM).

Reason: After ensuring the food security, now the policy emphasis is on increasing farmers income, boost exports, save foreign exchange spent on import of edible oils.