Cash Crops of India
The commercial crops: sugarcane, cotton, jute, oilseeds and tobacco, each marked where it leads.
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Every place on this map
Asked in exams
Actual questions from UPSC and state PCS papers that this map answers. The key detail column carries the correct fact behind each question.
| Exam | Question | Key detail |
|---|---|---|
| UPPCS | Largest producer of sugarcane: Uttar Pradesh | — |
| UPPCS | Maximum land under sugarcane: Uttar Pradesh | — |
| UPPCS | Largest producer of sugar: Uttar Pradesh | — |
| UPSC 1984 | UP tops sugarcane - which state is second?: Maharashtra | — |
| UPPCS | Sugarcane (2015-16): Maharashtra, UP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka | — |
| UPSC 2008 | Chikmagalur is known for sugar ✗; Mandya for coffee ✗ | Chikmagalur is coffee country, Mandya is sugar country |
| UPPCS | India’s largest cotton producer: Maharashtra | — |
| UPPCS | “White gold” of Maharashtra: cotton | — |
| UPSC 2011 | Arid north, cotton centre, cash crops over food crops: Gujarat | — |
| UPSC 1996 | Area producing most cotton: western and southern India | — |
| UPSC 2011 | Lower Gangetic plain: paddy and jute | — |
| UPSC 1991 | Bangladesh is India’s main world-market rival in: jute | — |
| UPPCS | Most jute area: West Bengal | — |
| UPPCS | Highest oilseeds producer: Madhya Pradesh | old key; Rajasthan today |
| UPPCS | Not a kharif crop: mustard | — |
| UPSC 1989 | Not true about Gujarat: “largest producer of tobacco” | — |
| UPSC 2012 | Groundnut is predominantly rainfed ✓ | — |
| UPPCS | More than half of India’s soybean: Madhya Pradesh | — |
| UPPCS | MP first in area and production of: soybean | — |
| UPPCS | Main tobacco-producing pair: Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat | — |
| UPSC 2019 | Domesticated in the New World: tobacco, cocoa, rubber | — |
| UPPCS | UP’s share of India’s mentha oil: 90% | — |
| State PCS | Tobacco: Gujarat is now India’s largest producer ✓ | 45%, bidi tobacco; AP led in 1989 |
| Review Officer 2018 | Uttar Pradesh is the “Sugar Bowl of India” ✓ | largest cane producer, most sugar mills |
| REET 2021 | Rajasthan is the largest producer state of which crop? Mustard ✓ | about 46%, a rabi crop |
| State PCS | Groundnut: Gujarat is the largest producer ✓ | about half of India’s output |
| State PCS | Sunflower: Karnataka leads ✓ | about 53% in 2024-25 |
| State PCS | India is the world’s largest producer of raw jute ✓ | West Bengal, Bihar, Assam; 75% of world output |
About this map
Sugarcane, cotton, jute, oilseeds and tobacco, each marked at a leading state. The fact notes the agro-climatic need and the policy angle (FRP/SAP, MSP, export).
Sugarcane (UP/Maharashtra) and cotton (Gujarat/Maharashtra) are the permanent fixtures, asked as leading-state and as tropical-versus-subtropical classification. Jute is the golden fibre of West Bengal.
Oilseeds split by crop: mustard (Rajasthan), groundnut (Gujarat), soyabean (MP). The import-dependence on edible oils is the mains angle behind the prelims map.