Dynamics of Rice Production in India- Emerging Sustainability Issues- options available

Abstract

Rice is an important cereal food crop in India and is cultivated in diverse agro-ecological regions in India. An attempt is made in this paper to trace the dynamics of rice cultivation in the last two decades in India at state level by using data at two points of time, and identify emerging sustainability related issues and available options for handling the issues. It is observed that dynamics of paddy production in some states is not explained exclusively by economics of paddy cultivation. Further there is growing concern regarding mismatch between hydrological suitability and paddy area expansion in some areas. Several policy and technological options are being suggested to correct this mismatch and also address sustainability issues associated with rice cultivation. But many of these options are focussing on any one single sustainability issue only. Hence, for addressing several sustainability issues simultaneously, basing on SRP framework, India has to develop its own standards. Policies, technological options and future research on rice need to be aligned towards the so developed standards. Along with this there is need for delineating areas suitable for rice cultivations, based on hydrological suitability.