India?s quest for increasing rice production by using of hybrid varieties could hit a stumbling block because of lack of availability of quality seeds, poor extension services, over dependence on private sector for seed production and low price realisation for farmers from hybrids, a assessment by the country’s leading rice research institute has shown.
The government has expressed its intention to bring about a second green revolution in eastern India through extensive use of hybrid rice on the lines of China.
The assessment carried by the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), which is affiliated to the Indian Council for Agricultural Research has also stated that lack of availability of long duration hybrids for shallow lowlands, coastal and north western parts of the country besides lack of specific resistance to major pests and diseases, has lead to limited acreage of hybrid rice in the country till now and could hamper its future growth prospects.
At present only 3% of the total rice producing areas (1.4 million hectare) is under hybrid rice, mostly located in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Haryana.
?Hybrid rice technology has potential to increase productivity by almost 1 tonne per hectare. However, hybrids currently available in the country are mostly suitable for irrigated land,? TK Adhya, director, Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), told FE.
Currently, India produces around 99 million tonne of rice from 43 million hectare while hybrid varieties are grown in around 50,000 tonne.
Adhya said that with demand for rice expected to rise to 110 million tonne by 2020 and 130 million tonne by 2025, the required jump in rice production had to come from vertical increase in enhancement of productivity.
?We need to ensure that farmers in eastern India adopt hybrid rice in large scale for augmenting rice output,? Adhya said.
Currently, 43 hybrid rice varieties have been released including 15 from the private sector. Around 15-20 varieties are currently being used by farmers.
The seven states?Assam, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh?account for close to 63% (26.8 million hectare) of the total rice cropped area in the country but their contribution towards rice production is only 48%. The average paddy yield of 1.8 tonne per hectare in the eastern zone is lower than the national average of 2.27 tonne per hectare.