Red Soil

Red soils cover large part of the Peninsular upland in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, South east Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chotanagpur Plateau and Meghalaya Plateau. They encircle the black cotton soil zone.

They have developed on the crystalline rocks like granite, gneisses and cover roughly 72 million hectares of the arable land. Iron compounds are abundant making the soil reddish in colour but they are deficient in organic matter.

The red soils are generally less fertile and are not as important agriculturally as the black and alluvial soils. But the productive capacity can be raised through irrigation and use of fertilizers.

This soil is suitable for rice, millet, maize, groundnut, tobacco and fruits.