Question

Name cotton growing areas in India.

Answer 1

Hint: India is the second largest producer of cotton after China and is grown on twelve million hectares and requires a moist climate with black soil.

Complete answer:
Cotton has been used as a fabric in India since time immemorial; it has been cultivated in the Indus valley for more than 5000 years. Maharashtra shares 36 per cent (2.8 m ha) followed by Gujarat with 21 per cent (1.6 m ha), Karnataka with 13 per cent (1 m ha) and Madhya Pradesh with 9 per cent (0.6 m ha) of the total net area sown.
Together, these four states mount upto 80 percent of the total area under cotton. Other cotton- growing states with smaller areas include Punjab, with 5 percent (0.4 m ha), Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu each with 4 per cent (0.31 m ha) and Haryana and Rajasthan with 3 percent of each (0.2 m ha each). Most of the cotton areas in the country fall under the high to medium rainfall zone or category.The cotton grown in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh (4.8 m ha) is rainfed, whereas in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu (1.93 m ha) it receives partial irrigation as states have abundance of groundwater.It requires 250 frost free days to grow.

Note: Insect resistant Bt cotton is grown currently in India. Remarkable growth has been seen in production and cultivation of Bt cotton in India and this growth is because Bt cotton has genes of soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis which makes it resistant.