Q.Name the staple food crop of Tamil Nadu and two other important crops grown in the state.

Tamil Nadu's cropping pattern varies by region, but a few crops are consistently associated with the state.

Paddy (rice) is the staple food crop of Tamil Nadu, and it is grown most intensively in the state's fertile, well-irrigated river deltas, particularly the Cauvery delta around Thanjavur — a region long known as the state's "rice bowl" because of its high paddy productivity. Besides paddy, Tamil Nadu grows a number of other significant crops depending on local soil and water conditions: sugarcane, an important irrigated cash crop that feeds the state's sugar mills; cotton, grown mainly in the drier interior districts and historically linked to the state's textile industry; and groundnut, an important oilseed crop grown widely across the drier plains. Pulses and millets are also grown in less-irrigated, rain-fed tracts, particularly important for dryland farming communities.

A common error is naming only paddy and stopping there, without recognising that Tamil Nadu's agriculture is regionally diverse — cash crops like sugarcane and cotton, and dryland crops like millets and pulses, are equally valid and expected examples for full marks.