Geography · Ch 11 — Land Resources and Agriculture
Wheat
Wheat
Wheat is the second most important cereal crop in India, after rice. India contributes about 12.8 per cent of the world's total wheat production (as of 2017). Because wheat is primarily a temperate-zone crop, its cultivation in India is restricted to the winter (rabi) season.
About 85 per cent of the total area under wheat is concentrated in the north and central regions of the country — specifically the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Malwa Plateau, and the Himalayas up to an altitude of 2,700 metres. As a rabi crop, wheat is mostly grown under irrigated conditions. However, it is grown as a rainfed crop in the Himalayan highlands and parts of the Malwa plateau in Madhya Pradesh.
Approximately 14 per cent of India's total cropped area is under wheat cultivation. The leading wheat-producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
Yield levels vary significantly across states:
- Very high yield (above 4,000 kg per hectare): Punjab and Haryana. …
The map is a choropleth outline of India, titled "INDIA / WHEAT". It includes the country's borders, neighbouring territories, a graticule (latitude-longitude grid), the Tropic of Cancer, a scale bar, and a north arrow. The map uses a two-class legend: dark grey for "MAJOR AREA" and light grey for "MINOR AREA".
The dark-grey major wheat area covers the north-western Indo-Gangetic plain — specifically Punjab, Haryana, and western and central Uttar Pradesh. This is the heartland of India's wheat production, where yields are very high (above 4,000 kg per hectare) due to extensive irrigation and favourable winter (rabi) conditions.
The light-grey minor areas lie over Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the Malwa plateau. These regions grow wheat under more marginal conditions — often rainfed in parts of Madhya Pradesh and the Malwa plateau, and with lower yields. Rajasthan's wheat is concentrated in its eastern and northern districts, while Madhya Pradesh's wheat belt extends across the Malwa plateau.
What the map teaches is the stark spatial concentration of wheat cultivation in India. About 85% of the total wheat area is in the north and central regions, but the map visually separates the high-yield, irrigated core (dark grey) from the lower-yield, rainfed periphery (light grey). The leading states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan — all appear, but the map shows that only Punjab, Haryana, and western/central Uttar Pradesh qualify as "major" areas. This reflects the textbook's point that yield levels vary dramatically: Punjab and Haryana are in the dark zone, while Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are in the light zone despite being among the top five producers by area. …