India Becomes the World’s Largest Rice Producer

The Union Minister of Agriculture announced that India has become the world’s largest rice producer, surpassing China.

Rice Production in India

Global Share: India produced a record 150.18 MT in 2024-25, accounting for over 28% of global output.
Area Coverage: Rice occupies largest cropped area in India, covering about 51–52 million hectares.
Key States: West Bengal is the leading producer (about 15%), followed by Uttar Pradesh (~12%) and Punjab (~10%).
- Punjab has the highest yield due to full irrigation and mechanisation, followed by Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Export: India is the world’s largest rice exporter, accounting for nearly 40% of global trade.
- Basmati rice is exported to West Asia; non-Basmati rice is exported to Africa and Southeast Asia.
Major Varieties: GI-tagged rice includes Basmati, Gobindobhog (West Bengal), Joha Rice (Assam), and Navara Rice (Kerala). ICAR-developed climate-resilient varieties include Kamala and Pusa DST Rice-1.

Rice is mainly a Kharif crop (sown in June–July and harvested in Nov–Dec), but it is also grown as Rabi and Zaid crops in Southern and Eastern India.
Climate: Rice requires temperatures of 25–35°C, high humidity, and annual rainfall above 100 cm.
Soil: It grows best in deep, clayey, and loamy soils with high water-holding capacity.
Cultivation Methods: Indian farmers mainly use transplantation, broadcasting, & drilling methods.
- New methods such as Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) are promoted to conserve groundwater.

NFSNM: The National Food Security & Nutrition Mission (NFSNM) increases rice production through targeted productivity growth in low-yield rice districts.
RKVY: Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana allows states to design region-specific rice projects, including irrigation infrastructure and local processing facilities.
Rice Fortification: The Rice Fortification Initiative ensures that rice distributed through the PDS, PMGKAY, and PM-POSHAN is fortified with iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12.
PMDDKY: PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, launched for 2025–26, targets 100 low-productivity districts to strengthen irrigation, credit access, and post-harvest infrastructure.
PKVY: Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana promotes organic rice farming through cluster-based support and certification for premium domestic and export markets.
CCTS: Carbon Credit Trading Scheme enables rice farmers to earn carbon credits by adopting methane-reducing practices such as AWD.
Digital Support: Depot Darpan (2025) and Digital Agri-Stack with Unified Farmer Service Platform enable depot monitoring, input geotagging, and transparent MSP procurement.

Water Guzzling Crop: Traditional flood-irrigation methods require 3,000–5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of rice. This has led to an alarming decline in the water table, particularly in Punjab and Haryana.
Stubble Burning: The short window between Kharif (Rice) harvest and Rabi (Wheat) sowing forces farmers in NW India to burn crop residue, causing severe air pollution (smog) in Delhi-NCR.
Rising Input Costs: Increasing costs of fertilizers, pesticides, and diesel, coupled with labor shortages (due to MNREGA and urban migration), are squeezing farm profitability.
Land Fragmentation: Small and marginal landholdings (avg. <1.08 ha) make mechanisation (like transplanters or harvesters) economically unviable for individual farmers.
Labour Dependency: Traditional transplantation is highly labor-intensive. Shortage of skilled labor during peak season delays sowing, affecting yields.

Promoting Water-Efficient Technologies: Adoption of Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) can significantly reduce water use and labour costs.
Climate-Resilient Rice Varieties: Development and dissemination of drought-, flood-, salinity-, and heat-tolerant rice varieties is essential.
Crop Diversification: Incentivising crop diversification away from water-intensive rice in stressed regions can restore ecological balance.
Strengthening Farmer Income and Market Access: Expanding MSP procurement beyond a few states can ensure income stability. Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) can enhance collective bargaining and market integration.