Geography · Ch 11 — Land Resources and Agriculture
Other Oilseeds
Other Oilseeds
Other Oilseeds — Soyabean and sunflower are the two other major oilseeds grown in India, after the traditional ones like groundnut, mustard, and sesame.
Soyabean cultivation is heavily concentrated in central India. Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra together account for about 90 per cent of the country's total soyabean output. This crop has become a key oilseed in these states, and its cultivation is often associated with the black soil region of the Malwa plateau.
Sunflower is grown mainly in the southern and western parts of the country. Its cultivation is concentrated in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and the adjoining areas of Maharashtra. In northern India, sunflower is a minor crop. However, where it is grown in the north, its yield is high because of the availability of irrigation. …
This black-and-white photograph shows a pair of bullocks yoked to a wooden seed drill, moving across a ploughed dryland field. Two farmers are visible: one guides the bullocks from behind the drill, while the other likely manages the seed flow or walks alongside. The field is bare and tilled, with no standing crops — the soil has been prepared for sowing. The seed drill, a traditional implement, cuts a shallow furrow and drops soyabean seeds into it in a single operation.
The caption places the scene in Amravati, Maharashtra, a district in the Vidarbha region. This location is significant because Maharashtra, along with Madhya Pradesh, accounts for about 90% of India’s soyabean output. The photograph therefore illustrates the dominant cultivation method in the country’s main soyabean-growing belt: rainfed, bullock-powered agriculture using a seed drill. It is not a modern, mechanised operation — it shows the labour-intensive, small-farm reality that still characterises much of Indian oilseed farming. …