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Indian Food grains include rice, wheat, corn (maize), coarse grains (sorghum and millet), and pulses (beans, dried peas, and lentils). In 1990, approximately 127.5 million hectares were sown with food grains, about 75 percent of the total planted area. The total number of hectares increased by 31 percent over the forty-year period from 1950 to 1990. Most of this increase occurred in the 1950s; there was almost no change in the sown number of hectares through the 1980s. Around 33 percent of cropland was given over to rice, about 29 percent to coarse grains, and the rest evenly divided between wheat and pulses.
Rice, India's preeminent crop, is the staple food of the people of the eastern and southern parts of the country. Production increased from 53.6 million tons in 1980 to 74.6 million tons in 1990, a 39 percent increase over the decade. By 1992, rice production had reached 111 million tons, second in the world only to China with its 182 million tons. Since 1950 the increase has been more than 350 percent. Most of this increase was the result of an increase in yields; the number of hectares increased only 40 percent during this period. Yields increased from 1,336 kilograms per hectare in 1980 to 1,751 kilograms per hectare in 1990. The per-hectare yield increased more than 262 percent between 1950 and 1992.
Wheat production in India showed an 843 percent increase, from nearly 6.5 million tons in 1950 to 54.5 million tons in 1990 to 56.7 million tons in 1992. Most of this greater production was the result of an increase in yields that went from 663 kilograms per hectare in 1950 to 2,274 kilograms in 1990. Along with the excellent performance in yields, improved wheat production resulted from an increase in the area planted from nearly 9.8 million hectares in 1950 to 24.0 million hectares in 1990.
Sorghum and millet, the principal coarse grains, are dryland Indian crops most frequently grown as staples in central and western India. Corn and barley are staple foods grown mainly near and in the Himalayas region. As the result of increased yields, the production of coarse grains has doubled since 1950; there was hardly any change in the area sown for these grains. The production of Indian pulses did not fare well, increasing by only 68 percent over the four decades. Land devoted to pulses increased by 28 percent, and yields were up by 30 percent. Indian Pulses are an important source of protein in the vegetarian diet; the small improvement in production along with the increase in population meant a reduced availability of pulses per capita.
