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AGRICULTURE

Over 76 percent of the people are dependent on agriculture. Out of the gross cropped area of 87.46 lakh hectares, 18.79 lakh hectares are irrigated. Rice, pulses, oil seeds, jute, mesta, sugarcane, coconut and turmeric are important crops. There are also cash crops like tea, cotton and rubber. The state contributes one-tenth of the rice production in India. Apart from irrigation, floods, droughts, low yield per hectare and division and fragmentation of holidays are the most important agricultural problem of the state. Jute, gram, sesame, ragi, mustard, rape and maize are second-ranking crops in different districts. District-wise, jute ranks second in Cuttack and Balasore, gram in Puri and Phulabani. Maize in Mayurbhanj.

FOOD GRAINS

Food grains include cereals, millets and pulses. Among cereals, the most important crop was rice. It was followed by ragi, maize, wheat, small millets and bajra. All these, except wheat are coarse cereals and belong to hardier crops which are mostly cultivated in the middle mountainous and rolling uplands and plateaus of Orissa. Whereas rice is confined to the coastal plains, the river valleys and Hirakud command areas where alluvial soil is found. Coarse cereals are of major importance in Orissa both in production and productivity.

RICE. Among the cereals rice is the most dominant crop. It is concentrated in areas of Cuttack, Sambalpur, Puri, Ganjam, Baleshwar, Koraput, Kendujhar and Kalahandi. Rice cultivation is mostly confined to the alluvial coastal plains and river valleys below the 305 meter contour line because of ideal topographical and soil conditions.

Valuable Informations

PULSES

Gram, tur and arhar are the major pulses grown in Orissa. The pulses can be broadly divided into kharif and rabi crops. Irrigated tracts like the Mahanadi delta, the Rushikulya plains and the Hirakud and Badimula regions are the prominent pulse growing areas of Orissa. Production of pulses are concentrated in districts like Cuttack, Puri, Kalahandi, Koraput, Dhenkanal, Balangir and Sambalpur.

OIL SEEDS

Sesameum, groundnut, mustard, castor and linseed are the principal oilseeds grown in Orissa. Oilseeds are categorized as kharif and rabi crops. Rabi oilseeds are grown as a second crop after the cereals are harvested. Among the oilseeds, groundnut and castor are the hardier crops and are grown in marginal and sub-marginal lands.

Oilseed cultivation is concentrated in districts like Cuttack, Koraput, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal and Ganjam. All these are located in a less hospitable terrain.

Coconut is mostly confined to the coastal plains because of the high salinity of the soil. Unlike Kerala, in Orissa coconut is primarily grown as a fruit crop. Except coconut, all other oilseeds are seasonal in character.

Except Cuttack district, all the other major oilseeds producing districts are located either in the middle mountainous or rolling uplands of Orissa, where the edaphic and climatic conditions are favourable. While Dhenkanal is the leading til producing district, Baleshwar leads in mustard and Cuttack in groundnut production.

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