Paddy cultivation sees decline

For Prelims

Rice is a Kharif Crop sown during June-July and harvested during September-October.
It is believed that the indica variety of rice was first domesticated in the area covering the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas (i.e. north-eastern India), stretching through Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Southern China
Rice requires a temperature between 22-32°C with high humidity.
Rice requires a rainfall of around 150-300 cm.
Rice needs to be planted in a deep clayey and loamy soil.
Rice cultivation in India extends from 8 to35ºN latitude and from sea level to as high as 3000 meters.
Top Rice Producing States are West Bengal > Punjab > Uttar Pradesh > Andhra Pradesh > Bihar.
India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.

What are the concerns regarding rice cultivation:
This year the area under paddy cultivation has decreased by 5.62% (22.90 lakh hectares) compared to the area covered in 2021.

Jharkhand (decrease of 9.80 lakh hectares), Madhya Pradesh (decrease of 6.32 lakh hectares), West Bengal (decrease of 4.45 lakh hectares), Chhattisgarh (decrease of 3.91 lakh hectares), Uttar Pradesh (decrease of 2.61 lakh hectares) and Bihar (decrease of 2.18 lakh hectares).

Telangana (increase of 4.71 lakh hectares), Haryana (increase of 0.94 lakh hectares), Nagaland (increase of 0.78 lakh hectares) and Gujarat (increase of 0.55 lakh hectares).

The cultivation of pulses this year is 129.55 lakh hectares compared to 135.46 lakh hectares in 2021.
Tur/arhar cultivation has also decreased marginally at 44.86 lakh hectares as against 47.56 lakh hectares in 2021.
Oilseeds have been cultivated in 188.51 lakh hectares in the country, slightly less than 189.66 lakh hectares by 2021.
In the case of sugarcane, the cultivation is 55.65 lakh hectares, which shows a slight increase in the production as compared to 54.70 lakh hectares in 2021 kharif.

SOURCE: THE HINDU

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