Chapter-III: Rice Production in Assam
3.6: Rice Production in Assam (District level analysis)
3.5.1: Infrastructure and Rice Yield across Agro-ecological Zones:
The deceleration in some zones and stagnation in others was caused by the disparity in infrastructure, as reflected by the positive correlation between agricultural infrastructure index and rice yield. Top performing zones with higher level of infrastructure had higher average yield, contrary to low yields and low infrastructure in the rest of the zones. The value of Agricultural Infrastructure Index (AII) for the top three zones, viz., UBVZ, BVZ and HZ being 69, 59, and 51 respectively (against all India = 100) was associated with corresponding higher average productivity of 1.63 ton/ha, 1.60 ton/ha and 1.53 ton/ha respectively. While Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone showed in table 3.15 the lowest productivity as the lowest value of agricultural infrastructure index (AII) being at 35.
Table-3.15: Relationship between agricultural infrastructure index (AII) and rice yield in Assam:
Agro-ecological Zones AII Yield (ton/ha)
UBVZ 69 1.63
BVZ 59 1.60
H Z 51 1.53
CBVZ 45 1.41
NBPZ 40 1.34
LBVZ 35 1.22
Source: NIRD, 2000, India Rural Development Report, Hyderabad.
3.6.1: Inter-district Variation in Rice Yield:
Although the winter rice has been the major rice all over the state, its yield did not show appreciable improvement. The yields hovered around 2 ton/ha in almost all the districts.
Bhowmick et al., (2005) noted that the highest winter rice yield of 3.19 ton/ha has been found in Cachar and the lowest of 1.94 ton/ha was in Kamrup and Goalpara district, while overall state average yield was 2.38 ton/ha. Judging by the average yield of winter rice, the Cachar and Sibsagar seem to have been the most productive and favourable rice environment. The yield in rest of the districts was medium. Except Lakhimpur, Cachar and Karbi Anglong, summer rice yield is more than 2.5 ton/ha in rest of the districts. The yield of summer rice was higher because summer rice crop is grown under irrigated condition. In 2008-09, it was seen that highest yield of winter rice of 2573 kg/ha was found in Karimganj district, highest yield of summer rice of 2756 kg/ha in Goalpara district and highest yield of autumn rice of 1943 kg/ha in Hailakandi district. On the other hand, Lakhimpur district had lowest in yield of all three rice varieties; 640 kg/ha in winter rice, 821 kg/ha in summer rice and 283 kg/ha in autumn rice in 2008-09 (see appendix Table III.4). However, in 2013-14, district-wise data of rice yield have shown remarkable changes where high yield of winter rice was recorded in Hailakandi, Goalpara, Golaghat, Kamrup (M), Dima Hasao and Morigaon district; high yield of summer rice was seen in the districts of Darrang, Dhubri, Barpeta, Goalpara, Sonitpur and Kokrajhar while low yield of summer rice recorded in Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Cachar and Hailakandi districts. Yield of autumn rice is high in the districts of Dibrugarh, Dima Hasao, Morigaon, Baska while low in the districts of Barpeta, Udalguri, Jorhat, Hailakandi, etc. The growth of area and yield for summer rice and total rice was significant in Morigaon, Dhubri, Kamrup, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi and Darrang districts. The growth rate of summer rice area was highly encouraging and significant in Darrang, Sibsagar, Goalpara, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh.
On account of extreme inter-district variation in production practices, it become essential to identify the hotspot of disparity, which is important for rice improvement policy interventions. Considering the time series data of rice yield in 1999-2001, the group of districts comprising Kamrup, Goalpara, Darrang and Lakhimpur was classified in the low-yield category with average yield of rice being around 2 MT or less compared to 2.3 MT per hectare in Assam (Bhowmick et al., 2005). These districts covered 56 percent of the state rice area, but contributed only 46 percent to the total production in
the state. During the last three decades, the productivity of total rice in these districts has been stagnant by and large. These districts were also highly susceptible to frequent and multiple floods, which affected the winter rice adversely and damaged the prospect of total rice production. However, in recent years Goalpara, Darrang, Kamrup districts could improve the position. On the contrary, Golaghat, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Nagaon have been the high performing districts. These districts occupied 38 percent of rice area and contributed substantially at more than 48 percent of the total rice production in Assam. From the rice yield data in 2008-09, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts were listed in the low rice yield districts producing less than 1500 kg/ha. Table 3.16 presents the district-wise area, production and yield of rice by season in Assam during 2013-14.
Table-3.16: District-wise Area, Production and Yield of Winter Rice, Autumn Rice, Summer Rice in Assam during 2013-14: Area in hectare; Production in metric tone; Yield in kg/ha
Districts Winter Rice Summer Rice Autumn Rice Total Rice
A P Y A P Y A P Y A P Y
Baksa 85730 161484 1912 2750 5885 2140 10200 16672 1661 98680 184041 1893 Barpeta 67630 123146 1849 47877 158072 3302 19191 16796 889 134698 298014 2234 Bongaigaon 32690 66164 2055 13070 38727 2963 11021 17595 1622 56781 122486 2183 Cachar 82347 153041 1887 7700 12958 1683 6430 10288 1626 96477 176287 1853 Chirang 35250 58207 1676 7700 6025 2210 8879 11707 1340 46856 75939 1644 Darrang 48236 92981 1957 17837 64285 3604 3616 4050 1138 69689 161316 2341 Dhemaji 68300 105539 1569 4420 8883 2010 9630 14723 1554 82350 129145 1591 Dhubri 35140 63545 1836 47295 167391 3539 4169 5349 1304 86604 236285 2747 Dibrugarh 77479 146528 1920 403 1201 2981 188 325 1758 78070 148054 1925 Dima
Hasao 9125 20277 2256 28 83 2981 6670 11477 1749 15823 31837 2044
Goalpar 49245 116414 2400 25290 82243 3252 8624 9625 1134 83159 208282 2531 Golaghat 11739
8 278929 2412 4838 11716 2422 1915 4432 1352 124151 295077 2412 Hailakandi 41550 106983 2614 2035 3596 1767 3090 3287 1081 46675 113866 2475 Jorhat 86181 178210 2099 4663 7233 1551 3267 3282 1021 94111 188725 2034 Kamrup(M) 20343 44745 2233 7990 23626 2957 895 1181 1340 29228 69552 2406 Kamrup(R) 71020 152006 2173 36808 107079 2909 13511 15175 1141 121339 274260 2284 Karbi
Anglong
11884
1 203249 1736 2256 4257 1887 9103 12411 1386 130200 219917 1714 Karimganj 69394 138893 2032 6850 13501 1971 1255 1576 1276 77499 153970 2014 Kokrajhar 64633 127450 2002 23056 69796 3027 21800 25856 1205 109489 223102 2063 Lakhimpur 11170
0 215763 1961 16400 25187 1536 13000 19615 1533 141100 260565 1872 Morigaon 46495 109410 2389 41120 134956 3282 2500 4133 1680 90115 248499 2780 Nagaon 14024
4 295177 2137 44319 122928 2774 12088 18018 1515 196651 436123 2244 Nalbari 62000 115850 1897 11000 31823 2893 4930 5701 1175 77930 153374 1994 Sibsagar 95779 205295 2176 553 1649 2981 200 300 1532 96532 207244 2179 Sonitpur 12389
2 240086 1967 21493 67738 3152 20669 32904 1618 166054 340728 2079 Tinsukia 56890 97987 1749 85 253 2981 5346 7595 1444 62321 105835 1724 Udalguri 63205 91722 1473 6269 18767 2994 21145 20367 979 90619 13086 1465 Assam 18807
37
370908
1 2002 39913 2
118985
8 2981 22333 2
29444
0 1340 250320 1
519337 9 2101
Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Govt. of Assam.
For comparing the amounts of scatteredness of different sizes of area, production and yield of three seasonal rice varieties in 27 districts in Assam we have to reduce all those to a comparable percentage which can be calculated by the co-efficient of variation of these three parameters. The co-efficient of variation of area, production and yield of winter rice, summer rice, autumn rice and total rice across 27 districts of Assam in 2008- 09 and 2013-14 are presented in the Table 3.17:
Table: 3.17: Co-efficient of variation of area, production and yield of rice across 27 districts in Assam since 1990-91 to 2013-14: in (%)
Year Winter Rice Summer Rice Autumn Rice Total Rice
A P Y A P Y A P Y A P Y
1990 -91
- - - - - - - - - 68.14 67.77 55.65
1991 -92
- - - - - - - - - 63.97 63.65 50.84
1992 -93
- - - - - - - - - 66.59 67.19 49.62
1993 -94
- - - - - - - - - 67.08 65.74 46.66
1994 -95
- - - - - - - - - 67.02 67.68 47.97
1995 -96
- - - - - - - - - 66.21 66.80 50.42
1996 -97
- - - - - - - - - 65.99 64.70 51.40
1997 -98
- - - - - - - - - 65.88 66.26 48.15
1998 -99
- - - - - - - - - 67.28 69.86 48.74
1999 -00
- - - - - - - - 66.10 69.71 47.02
2003 -04
65.32 70.18 50.38 133.25 162.9 66.81 103.7 98.46 59.82 - - - 2004
-05
67.36 73.02 56.47 132.32 153.06 50.69 104.5 2
92.25 70.02 - - -
2005 -06
53.22 59.44 20.76 108.7 137.63 32.85 83.54 79.06 37.90 - - - 2006
-07
53.19 160.90 31.08 113.44 133.79 25.52 83.09 75.71 36.16 43.55 49.98 30.80 2007
-08
51.62 58.05 30.79 105.95 124.02 22.69 74.09 68.40 35.57 2008
-09
47.16 57.88 27.82 104.43 112.13 31.1 85.38 79.07 34.81 55.83 47.22 26.04 2009
-10
49.13 58.35 24.97 112.71 131.28 187.8 7
89.07 80.23 190.7 4
- - -
2010 -11
49.12 53.30 18.88 114.99 126.73 24.92 84.48 72.28 38.28 - - - 2011
-12
49.42 121.92 24.82 112.91 125.29 30.60 80.16 78.82 35.58 - - - 2012
-13
52.9 52.35 21.00 109.26 119.52 29.32 77.52 80.05 30.97 - - - 2013
-14
47.24 49.99 13.28 104.44 118.16 23.67 79.49 76.29 18.13 43.18 46.58 15.94 Note: A area, P production, Y yield.
Source: Calculated by the Author
From table 3.17 it is clear that the variation in winter rice yield among the districts has reduced over the years and as a result production variations among the districts are also reduced. In summer rice, variation in yield decreased but that was not much reflected in production variation while in autumn rice variations in yield and production have been decreased. In total rice, variation in production among the districts has declined both for reduction in yield and area variation.