Rice occupies 45 per cent of the total area under cereals and 24% of the total cropped area of the country (2001-02). This area has increased from 308.1 lakh hectares in 1950-51 to 449 Lakh hectares in 2002-03 showing a nett gain of 45.8 per cen during the last 52 years. After 1990-91 there had been very little increase in the area of the rice.

The annual rate of increase has been 1.08%, 1.01 0.68%, 0.63% and 0.56% during the decades fifties, and sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties r spectively. Most of this recent increase is due to expansion of rice cultivation to non-traditional eas. Although every state of the contry has somear under rice cultivation West Bengal, Uttar Prades Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisga together account for over 60 per cent of the rice-area India.

Amongst the states West Bengal the largest area (14.50% of India) under rice f lowed by Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. These thirteen states occupy about 92 per cent of the rice area of the country.

The production of rice has witnessed much faster increase than its area. There has been more than four times increase in the production of rice between 1950-51 and 2001-02 (from 20.58 million tons in 1950-51 to 93.34 million tones.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Hard again West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Assam and Orrisa, (in descending order of their production) contribute over 77% of the rice production of the country. Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Haryana are other important rice producing states which contribute about 13% of the total rice produc­tion of the country.

Among the 100 leading rice producing districts of the country 10 districts each lie in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. Thanjavur district of the Kaveri Delta (Tamil Nadu) is the largest producer of rice in the country (13 lakh tonnes or 2.7 per cent). Another nine districts in descending order of their production include Balasore (Orissa), Medinipur (West Ben­gal), West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh), South Arcot, Chengalput (Tamil Nadu), Barddhaman, Twenty- four Parganas (West Bengal), North Arcot (Tamil Nadu) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh).

At regional level the humid and per humid areas of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra valleys, lower parts of North Eastern states (Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur), south-eastern coastal and plateau areas, deltas of the Coromandel coast, Malabar and Konkan constitute the major rice producing areas of India.

West Bengal

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Rice is the foremost crop of West Bengal occupying about three-fourth of its cropped area. The state occupies first place in the country in terms of area (14.50% in 2002-03) and production (19.81%) of rice. Although rice is grown in every part of the state over fifty per cent of the state’s production comes from 5 districts, i.e., Medinipur, Barddhaman, 24 Parganas, Birbhum and West Dinajpur. Other important rice producing districts include Murshidabad, Hugli, Purulia, Jalpaiguri, Bankura, Haora and Koch Bihar.

In West Bengal three succes­sive crops of rice (Aman 78%, Aus 20% and Boro 2%) are raised within a year. Of these the Aman or winter crop is the most important accounting for over two-third of the state’s production of rice.

Although Boro or summer crop occupies the small­est area (2%) owing to its higher per hectare yield it is attracting the cultivation of high yielding varie­ties, particularly in the irrigated areas of the state. About 23% of the rice-area has been brought under irrigation and about half of the area is under HYV. The average yield in the state is 2240 kg per hectare.

Uttar Pradesh

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Uttar Pradesh with second largest area (10.97%) is the third largest producer (11.16%) of rice. Rice is an important crop in the eastern region of the state (45%). Basti, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Siddhartha Nagar, Azamgarh, Maharajganj, Gonda and Azamgarh, which come under 100 leading rice producing districts of the country, together contrib­ute 31 % of the State’s rice production. Other impor­tant rice producing districts include Varanasi, Faizabad, Ballia, Ghazipur, Maunath Bhanjan, Jaunpur, Saharanpur and Barabanki. Owing to the adtoption of HYV seeds there has been constant increase in Uttar Pradesh’ share of rice into national production, i.e., 8.8% in 1975-76, 10.7% in 1980- 81,13.8% in 1990-91,14.48% in 1996-97 and 14.78% in 1997-98. Here 55% of the rice area comes under HYV seeds and 41% of it is irrigated. The 100 cm isohyet almost forms the western boundary of the rice area but it is gradually gaining popularity as irrigated crop in western areas also.

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is the fourth rice producing state of the country accounting for 6.81 % of the total rice area (in 2002-03) and 9.90% of its production (2002-03). Here rice occupies about one-third of the total cropped area of the state.

Although the crop is grown throughout the state but five districts (West Godavari, Krishna, East Godavari, Guntur and Nalgonda). Each producing more than 5 lakh tonnes, together contribute more than half of the state’s rice production. Other important districts include Nellore, Nizamabad. Karimnagar, Chittoor, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam and Cuddapah. Here valleys of the Godavari and Krishna rivers are very famous for rice production. Amongst 100 major rice producing dis­tricts of the country 15 belong to Andhra Pradesh. About 79% of the rice-area is under HYV seeds and 96% enjoys irrigation facilities. The per hectare yield is comparatively higher (2621 kg/ha). There has been constant increase in the output of rice in the state which has increased from 36 lakh tonnes in 1960-61, 55.8 lakh tones in 1973-74, and 96.74 lakh tones in 1990-91 to 118.78 lakh tones in 1998-99. Being surplus producer a portion of the produce is exported to the neighbouring areas.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Punjab

Punjab, which occupied eighth place amongst Indian states in the production of rice up to 1981, is presently the second largest producer of rice in the country. In 2002-03 it produced 88.80 lakh tones of rice which was 12.22% of the country’s produc­tion (in terms of area only 6.28% of India in 2002- 03). Here 97% of the rice area is irrigated and due to higher input of HYV seeds, fertilizers, mechanisa­tion and finance the cultivation is well managed and the per hectare yield is the highest (3510 kg/ha). About 68% of the state’s production comes from five districts of Patiala, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Gurudaspur and Jalandhar. Sangrur, Ludhiana, Faridkot and Kapurthala are other rice producing districts in the state. Punjab is a surplus producer and most of its produce is exported to deficit areas of the country.

Bihar

Bihar (including Jharkhand) contributes 9.84% of the total rice production of the country (area : 12.69%). Here rice occupies about 41 % of the total cropped area of the state. Although the rice is culti­vated all over the state five districts, i.e. Santhal Pargana, Rohtas, Ranchi, Singhbhum, and Purnea together contribute 35% of the state’s production of lice. Other important rice producing districts in­clude Gaya, Shahabad, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Samastipur. Amongst the 100 lead­ing rice producing districts of the country 12 belong to Bihar. I n Bihar about 36% of the rice area enjoys irrigation facilities. This accompanied with less use of HYV seeds, fertilisers and insecticides etc. lead to low per hectare yield (1386 kg) of rice in the state.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh) contributes 4.76% of the country’s rice production (area 12.63% in 2002-03). Here rice cultivation is very popular in south-eastern part of the state where the crop occupies over 50% of its cropped area. Raipur, Bilaspur, Bastar, Durg and Raigarh districts of Chhattisgarh produce about 60% of the state’s rice production. Besides Jabalpur, Surguja, Betul, Balaghat, Shahdol are other important rice produc­ing districts of the state. Due to traditional farming the per hectar.e yield (661 kg) of rice is very low.

Tamil Nadu

With 4.23 % of the country’s area and 7.86% of its production Tamil Nadu is an important pro­ducer of rice. Here rice occupies about 42% of the gross cropped area of the state. Five important dis­tricts include Thanjavur, South Arcot, Chingleput, North Arcot and Madurai together account for about 74% of the state’s rice production. Other important districts include Tirunelveli, Trichirappalli, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, Salem and Nilgiris. Here 90% of the rice area is irrigated and about 98% has been brought under HYV programme. This leads to higher per hectare yield (3350 kg / ha) of rice in the state.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Orissa

Orissa contributes 10.6% of the area and 4.47% of the production of rice in the country. Rice is the most important crop occupying 58% of the State’s cropped area. Over 75 per cent of rice pro­duction of Orissa comes from its five districts of Balasore, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Puri and Korapui. Rice is cultivated in every part of the state. Due to less facilities of irrigation (only 34% of the rice area is irrigated) the crop is susceptible to drought and vagaries of rain fall. The state has surplus production which is exported to other states.

Assam

In Assam rice is the most important food crop which occupies 73% of the total cropped area of the state. Assam has 6.3%ofthecountry’sriceareaand contributes 5.15% of the production. The Brahmaputra valley region is the main producer where five dis­tricts, i.e., Kamrup, Sibsagar, Goalpara, Nowgong and Darrang together contribute 69% of the state’s production. Cachar, Dibrugarh, and Lakhimpur are other important districts. Here also three crops of rice are raised in a year.

Karnataka

With only 2.87% the area, Karnataka contrib­utes 3.08% of the rice production in the country. The per hectare yield is compartively higher (about 1938 kg/ha). Here rice is widely grown in the valleys of Vainganga, Tungabhadra, Kaveri and in northern red soil areas. Hain (sown in June-July and har­vested in November-December) and Kar (sown in December-February and harvested in May-June) are the main crops. Important producers are Shimoga, Dakshina Kannada, Mysore, Mandya and. Uttara Kannada districts which together contribute more than half (52%) of the rice production of the state.

Maharashtra

In Maharashtra rice is cultivated in the coastal and eastern districts. Bhandara, Chandrapur, Thane and Kolaba account for 66 per cent of the total rice production of the state.

Haryana

In Haryana rice produci ng areas occupy north­ern parts of the state. Here Kurukshetra, Karnal and Ambala districts together contribute 84% of the state’s rice production.

Gujarat

Rice is cultivated in south-eastern part of the state. Here Valsad, Kheda, Panchmahals, Surat and Ahmadabad together produce 83% of the state’s rice production.

Kerala

In Kerala the rice is mostly cultivated in the coastal plains of the state. Palghat, Thrissur, Malappuram, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts together produce 67% of the state’s output of rice.

In Kashmir Anantnag and Baramula districts together account for 78% of the state’s production of rice.

Besides, Rajasthan (Ganganagar, Banswara and Dungarpurdistricts), Himachal Pradesh (Kangra and Mandi districts 62%), Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa. and Mizoram also produce rice.

Trade

Most of the rice produced in the country is consumed locally. Only a quarter of the total produc­tion enters the trade-about 10% reaches the whole­sale market and the rest purchased by the govern­ment. Over 70% of the trade in rice takes place in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal. West Bengal. Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Delhi are deficit area importing rice from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa and Assam.

India sometimes also imports rice from Thailand, Myanmar. ‘USA. UAR, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Similarly it also exports small quantity of superfine (Basrnati) rice to the Gulf countries. In 1970-71 India exported 32.8 thousand tonnes of rice worth rupees 5 crores. By 1998-99 the quantity of exported rice reached to 4963 thousand tones and the value to rupees 6281 crores. During this period the percentage share of rice in the export of agricultural commodities has gone more than 13.

In India there is much scope for increasing rice production by popularising HYV seeds in tradi­tional rice producing areas. Similarly with the im­provement in irrigational facilities it is gaining popu­larity in non-traditional areas. There are vast tracts in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan which can be brought under rice cultivation with the granting of facility of as­sured irrigation.