Rabi crops

Rabi crops are a type of crop grown in the winter and harvested in the spring in the South Asia. The word means spring in the Arabic language.

Overview

It is also called rabi harvest and spring harvest (also known as winter crop). The rabi crops are sown around mid-November, after the monsoon rains are over, and harvesting begins in April/May. The crops are grown either with rainwater that has percolated into the ground, or with irrigation. A good rain in winter spoils the rabi crop but is good for kharif crops.

Normally wheat barley, mustard, sesame and peas are grown in India. Peas are harvested early, as they are ready early: Indian markets are flooded with green peas from January to March, peaking in February.

Some of the example are:

Cereals

• wheat 
• oat 
• barley
• maize
  

  wheat (rabi crop)

Seed plants

alfalfa

• alfalfa 
• linseed
• sesame
• cumin 
• coriander 
• mustard 
• fennel 
• Fenugreek
• isabgol

Vegetables

• pea
• chickpea
• onion
• tomato
• potato

Rabi Crops Media

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  Wheat (Triticum aestivum) near Auvers-sur-Oise, France, June 2007

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  Barley

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  There are three major cropping seasons in India - Rabi, Kharif and Zaid. They have many differences. The table in the file gives a simplified list of differences between them.