Relevance: GS-3: Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage.

Key Phrases: Rice, Staple food crop, Rice-growing regions, Canal irrigation, Aus, Aman and Boro, Eastern India, Wet Cultivation System, Dry Cultivation System, Transplantation, Drilling method, Rainfall deficiency, Insect-pests, Diseases, Weeds.

Why in News?

• Less area getting planted under paddy in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal is, nevertheless, disturbing. This whole belt, together with Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Assam, has sufficient groundwater resources for sustainable rice cultivation.

Rice:

• It is the staple food crop of a majority of the people in India.
• India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.
• It is a Kharif crop that requires high temperature, (above 25°C) and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm.
• Some of the most important rice-growing regions are Assam, West Bengal, coastal regions of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra, particularly the (Konkan coast) along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
• Development of dense network of canal irrigation and tubewells has made it possible to grow rice in areas of less rainfall such as Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.
• In states like Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, three crops of paddy are grown in a year. i.e Aus, Aman and Boro.
• Rice is India’s largest agricultural crop (accounting for over 40% of the total foodgrain output).

Method of Land Preparation for Paddy Cultivation:

Rice is cultivated in different methods depending on the water availability and weather. i.e.

• Wet Cultivation System
  • In areas where the rainfall is abundant clubbed with abundant water supply, wet system of cultivation is followed.
  • The land is thoroughly ploughed and flooded with water upto 5cm in depth.
  • In case of clayey or loamy soil the depth must be 10 cm.
  • Post puddling the land is levelled so as to ensure uniform water distribution. Seedlings are sown or transplanted after leveling.
• Dry Cultivation System
  • In areas where irrigation facilities are unavailable and water is scarce, dry cultivation system is followed.
  • In this rice cultivation process the soil must have a good tilt hence it must be ploughed thoroughly.
  • In addition, farm yard manure must be distributed on the field uniformly at least 4 weeks before sowing. The seeds are then sown with 30 cm spacing between the plants.

Practices of Cultivation of Rice in India:

There are four different practices of cultivation of rice, viz. transplantation method, drilling method, broadcast method and Japanese method.

• Transplantation
  • It is the most commonly used method wherein seeds are first sown in nursery and the seedlings are transplanted to the main field once they show 3-4 leaves.
  • Although this is the best yielding method, it requires heavy labour.
• Drilling method
  • It is exclusive to India.
  • In this method, one person ploughs a hole in the land and the other person sows the seed.
  • Ox is the most commonly used ‘person’ to plough the land.
• Broadcast method
  • It generally involves scattering of the seeds manually over a large area or in the entire field.
  • Labour involved is very less and so is the precision. This method produces very less yield as compared to others.
• Decoding James
  • It has been adopted for the high-yielding variety of rice and those that need a high amount of fertilizers.
  • Seeds are sown in nursery beds and then transplanted to the main field. It has shown tremendous success for the high yielding varieties.

Reasons for Falling Rice Acreage in Eastern India:

• Rainfall deficiency:
  • The reason is rainfall deficiency of 44-59 percent across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal, even as the country as a whole has recorded 11 percent surplus precipitation from June 1 to July 24 this year.
  • Farmers have planted about 16.4 per cent less area so far under rice compared to last year at this time, despite overall kharif crop acreage going up.
  • Poor rains in the Gangetic plains have led to delayed transplanting of paddy by farmers, many of whom had even raised nurseries during the first half of June.
  • The seedlings from those have aged or gone dry and are not suitable for transplanting.
  • Farmers will, then, have to undertake fresh nursery sowing of shorter duration varieties, which would yield less grain per acre.
  • All this will translate into lower rice production, although it is possible that the losses in eastern India may be significantly offset by output from other regions.
• Insect-pests:
  • Insect-pests are serious yield-reducing constraints for rice production in the eastern India.
  • Damage caused by the insect-pests is one of the major components of yield gap accounting nearly 30 per cent of the difference between potential and actual farm yield.
  • Different studies show that on average 30 to 40 per cent of the total yield loss in eastern India is caused by the insect-pests.
  • Stem borer, gundhibug, brown plant hopper, armyworm, leaf folder, case worm etc. are the major insect-pests of rice in eastern India.
• Diseases:
  • Occurrence of various diseases in rice varieties grown under ecosystems in eastern India is very common.
  • Selection of varieties unsuitable for the cultivation on lands and favourable moist weather harbour a number of rice diseases.
  • It was found that occurrence of bacterial leaf blight (generally sporadic), brown leaf spot, and narrow brown leaf spot were severe in years of poor rain falls.
  • Other important diseases are blast, sheath rot and sheath blight.
• Weeds:
  • Weeds other important constraints as they compete with the rice crop and lead to a substantial loss in production.
  • The yield loss due to weeds in ecosystems was found to be greater than that of irrigated ecosystems.
  • In lowland areas, moist aerobic conditions of shallow water for extended period of flooding during early crop growth, followed by prolonged periods of flooding to variable depths favour the growth of a more diverse weed flora and more competitive weed species and their population.

Is there a crisis ahead in rice?

• Not for now, paddy cultivation takes place across a wider geography, unlike wheat that is grown only in a few states north of the Vindhyas.
• Rice is both a kharif (monsoon) and rabi (winter-spring) season crop.
• Also, with current stocks in government godowns being three-and-a-half times the required minimum buffer, the supply situation in rice should be quite manageable.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the reasons for falling rice acreage in eastern India. Is there a crisis ahead in rice availability in India? 250 words.