Indian agriculture follows three cropping seasons. Kharif crops are sown with the monsoon and harvested in autumn - rice, cotton and maize. Rabi crops are sown in winter and harvested in spring - wheat and mustard. Zaid crops grow in the short summer season.
The Green Revolution of the 1960s raised wheat and rice output sharply through high-yielding varieties, irrigation and fertilisers, concentrated first in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
Minimum Support Price is announced on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices to assure farmers a floor price.