India Is World's Second Largest Producer And Largest Exporter Of Rice

Farming is one of the major occupations in India. More than 61.5 percent of the total population is engaged in horticulture as per 2011 registration. Rice is the most prominent of all the crops grown in India. It is the fundamental food crop and being a tropical plant, it flourishes comfortably in the extremely hot and humid climate. As India is also a tropical country with a mixed type of climate; rice is cultivated abundantly in India.

India is the world's second-largest producer of rice, and the largest exporter in the world. As per Statistica’s Data for financial year 2021, India's production volume of rice was over 122 million metric tons. Rice cultivation has an important place in the national economy.

Rice plants need a hot but humid climate hence are mainly grown in rain-fed areas that receive heavy annual rainfall. That is why it is considered as a kharif (those crops which are cultivated and harvested between June to October) crop in India. The temperature must be at least 25 degrees Celsius and the rainfall must be at least 100 centimetres. In eastern and southern India, rice is a staple food.  

Regions like West Bengal, Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, eastern Madhya Pradesh, northern Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are prominent in rice production. A thick set-up of canal irrigation like Hirakud Dam and Indravati Dam combined with the deltas of the Ganges-Brahmaputra (in West Bengal), Kaveri River, Krishna River, Godavari River, Indravati River, and Mahanadi River, enables farmers to cultivate two and in some pockets, even three crops a year. Rice can now be grown in Punjab and Haryana, which are known for their hot and dry climates, due to the ample irrigation.

Rice is considered as the master crop of coastal India and in some regions of eastern India, where during the summer and monsoon seasons, both high temperature and heavy rainfall provide ideal conditions for the cultivation of rice. Almost all parts of India are suitable for raising rice during the summer season provided that water is available.

In Tamil Nadu alone, rice production amounted to over seven million metric tons, as noted in the financial year 2020. The state cultivates rice on 2.2 million hectares, mainly on irrigated land and partly on rain-fed land. On average, the state produces 2.8 tonnes per hectare. Except for Chennai, rice is grown in all 30 districts of Tamilnadu.

Consequently, Tamil cuisine also has a significant space for dishes made by using rice. Sooru or Soru (in Tamil) means rice. The word Sooruu is used as a suffix for any dish made using rice. For example: - Lemon rice - Elumichambalam (lemon) Sooruu. Both Vegetarian cuisine and Non-Vegetarian cuisine have popular types of Soruu. On special occasions, traditional Tamil dishes made with or of rice like Dosa, Uttapam and Idli are served in a traditional manner, using banana leaves in place of utensils. After eating, the banana leaves are then used as a secondary food for cattle.

India is a home to thousands of rice varieties but Basmati and Kolma are the two most popular rice in the country. There are 34 varieties of Basmati rice that have been notified under the seeds Act, 1966. In terms of production, water scarcity is leading to a decrease in production, inefficient fertilizer use, micronutrient deficiency, and increased soil salinity or alkalinity. 

In Trichy, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) released a new variety of rice suitable for sodic soil conditions that was developed by the Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute (ADACRI).

According to the college's Dean, P Masilamani, the newly introduced variety has been found to be better than TRY 2, the existing early duration variety introduced by the college in 2002. In addition to TRY 3 and TRY 4, the college had also introduced medium duration varieties.

In his remarks, Dr. Masilamani explained that selecting a suitable variety was crucial to obtaining high yields, especially in problematic soils. During the Kuruvai (June-July) or Navarai (Dec-Jan), farmers cultivated short-duration varieties that were not well-suited to salt-affected tracts. It was necessary to develop a short-lived variety that was also good for cooking.

In order to cater to the needs of farmers, the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics of ADACRI had taken up research on developing a short duration sodicity tolerant and high yielding rice variety, he added.

The promising rice variety of TRY 5 was developed following mutation breeding, which is well suited to the Kuruvaior Navarai seasons of Tamil Nadu. Crop maturity occurs in 110-115 days with an average yield of 5100 kilograms per hectare (ha), which is an advantage of 12.64 percent over TRY 2. There is moderate resistance to diseases such as blast and brown leaf spot, as well as pests such as brown plant hopper, green leaf hopper, and white backed plant hopper.

“The rice is long and slender. The cooked rice of this variety is non sticky, soft with good flavour and taste and suitable for batter. The variety has been approved by Tamil Nadu State Variety Release Committee, following which the TNAU released it as a Pongal gift,” Dr. Masilamani said.