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Barley is an important rabi crop. For human consumption, it is largely consumed by the poor classes either as flour for chapati making, pure or mixed with
wheat or gram flour, or as parched grains to make sattu. In Bihar and West Bengal the poor as a staple food consume dehusked barley. In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, mixed
flour of barley, gram and wheat is used for making `missi roti. However, almost 60 per cent of the total barley produced in India are consumed as cattle feed. Barley is also used in
the manufacture of malt and beer, aryuvedic medicine, cocoa-malt drinks and baby foods. With the coming up of many new breweries, after the liberalised licensing policy, the share of
barley in the production of malt for manufacture of beer is expected to rise.
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Area Of Cultivation
The are under barley cultivation in India has been gradually going down as farmers are shifting to more remunerative crops like wheat and gram or cash crops like rapeseed, mustard or
safflower. Barley is grown mainly in the northern plains of the country, but its cultivation extends up to elevations of about 4,575 metres (15,000 feet) in the Himalayas. Its greatest
concentration is in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, which account for approximately 52, 18 and 11 per cent, respectively, of the total area. It is also grown to a
considerable extent in northern Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. It is of minor importance in the south of 20oN, although it can be
grown successfully wherever wheat can be grown. In this region, it occupies small areas in Gujarat, Maharashtra, northern Karnataka and in the Nilgiris and the Palney Hills of Tamil Nadu.
About 51 per cent of the total area under this crop receive irrigation, the remainder being grown as a rainfed crop. The crop needs less water and is more tolerant of salinity and alkali
conditions than other winter cereals. It is, therefore, of great significance in areas where it is not possible to take a successful crop of wheat owing to unsuitable soil and insufficient
irrigation.
In some recent experiments, this crop has shown good adaptation to conditions obtaining in the coastal areas of West Bengal, which traditionally grow only one crop of paddy. Its suitability
in other nontraditional wheat and barley-growing states, such as Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, the Andaman Islands and Orissa in the east; Andhra Pradesh and the
hills of Kerala in the south is being determined.
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