Rice production in India - Relevance of hybrid and transgenic technologies1

Abstract

Rice occupies the enviable prime place among the food crops cultivated around the world. It is grown in 152 million hectares with a production of 585.6 million tonnes. India has the largest area among the rice growing countries and enjoys the second rank in rice production. India produces 90 million tonnes of rice in an area of 44 million hectares with a productivity of over two tonnes per hectare. Since land is a shrinking resource, increasing food production by expanding the area under cultivation is impossible. So the only way out is to enhance marginal land productivity. On the other hand, population progression demands maximizing production per unit land. By increasing productivity, part of rice area can be made available to other crops as China has demonstrated successfully using hybrid rice technology. Therefore, efforts to enhance rice productivity must receive top priority. Also, in view of the rampant malnutrition in the developing countries, improvement in nutrition status in rice through use of biotechnology as well as role of these technologies in solving the social problems like river water disputes are covered in this article, though not in exhaustive manner.