Deccan Plateau about 10% in Western Ghats. Except in developed areas of certain river valleys, double-cropping is rare. Rice is the predominant crop in high-rainfall areas and sorghum in low-rainfall areas. Other crops of significance include cotton, tobacco, oilseeds, and sugar cane. Coffee, tea, coconuts, areca, pepper, rubber, cashew nuts, tapioca, and cardamom are widely grown on plantations in the Nilgiri Hills and on the western slopes of the Western Ghats. Cultivation of Jatropha has recently received more attention due to the Jatropha incentives in India. Deccan Plateau The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in western and southern India. It rises
Tsalka Plateau precipitation rate is 740 millimetres. The Tsalka Reservoir occupies the centre of the plateau. Most likely covered largely by forests from Neolithic through Middle Bronze Age ca. 1500 BC, the land today represents mainly ancient dolomitic lava and is largely infertile. Before the Soviet Union, crop growing on the plateau was hindered by severe weather conditions, hail and field mice, which is why animal husbandry and beekeeping were more preferred forms of agriculture. The Tsalka plateau is home to the ancient Trialeti culture, with tumuli dating back to the second millennium BC, discovered in the 1930s. Some tumuli have stone-lined