Chapter-III: Rice Production in Assam
3.4: Rice Production Scenario in Assam in Recent Decades
3.4.3: Use of High Yielding Variety (HYV) and Hybrid Rice in Assam
An important development during the post Green Revolution period (1970-73 to 1980- 83) was the successful introduction of HYV rice, mainly IR-8 in the assured irrigated areas (Bhalla and Singh, 2000). In 1970-71, 134 thousand hectares (6.79% of TRA) was under HYV rice in the state which had increased to 1589 thousand hectares (63.5% of TRA) in 2013-14. HYVs are able to give higher yields than the traditional varieties, especially if the supply of nutrients to the soil can be increased. IR-8 variety had the potential to yield over eight tons per hectare under ideal cultural practices and field conditions, compared to less than three tons per hectare for traditional varieties in the tropics.
The Green Revolution in Haryana and Punjab is essentially the outcome of the extensive use of HYV seeds. Since 2004-05 about cent percent rice area in Punjab are
under HYV seeds (Statistical Abstract of Punjab, 2005). It becomes possible because of the provisions of assured water supply, and mainly because of the emergence of the big capitalist farmers backed by a strong political-bureaucratic nexus. But Assam was deprived of all such advantages. Neither is there a class of capitalist farmers nor the government‟s initiatives are forthcoming. There is absence of assured water supply and adequate supply of modern inputs. However, in a very feeble way, steps were taken by the state government to introduce both locally developed seeds as well as HYV seeds developed by the all Indian Agricultural Research Institutes (Das, 1984). The Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Assam has introduced the high yielding variety of paddy in the state in 1965-66 and a special rice production programme was launched in 1985-86 (Gopalakrishnan, 2000). Though there is a steady increase in the area under HYV seeds of rice in Assam, the CAGR of rice yield per hectare was only 1.52 percent for the period 1980-81 to 2009-10. HYV seeds seem to have contributed very little towards improving productivity of rice in the state during this period (Saikia, 2014).
Presently different modern varieties of rice have been developed and thus considering the productivity, peasants of Assam prefer IR-8, IR-36, Native Taichungnating-1, Monohar Sali (locally developed), Mala, Pusa, Lachit, Masuri, Jaya, Ranjit, Ratna, China Boro, Biplov, Bahadur, Kaveri, KrishnaPadma, Hankai, Kolangi and Ch-63. These varieties are grown in the manner as Ahu, Sali and Boro paddy in the corresponding seasons. Average yield of TN-1 and IR-8 is 809.4 kg/ha when grown as Ahu and Sali paddy, while 1011.7 kg/ha when grown as Boro paddy (Gazetteer of India:
Assam State, 1999). The HYV paddy has been adopted mostly by the immigrant Muslim peasants in the erstwhile four districts of Assam viz., Kamrup, Nowong, Darrang and Goalpara during 1975-76.44 Among the HYV paddy, Monohar Sali (67%) was the most popular among the peasants in Assam. Das (1984) states that the HYV programme in Assam had not become successful because of inadequate supply of improved seeds and other supporting inputs. Among different agro-climatic zones of Assam HYV Paddy area as percentage of total paddy area are highest in Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone (68.61%) followed by Hill Zone (67.31%), Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone (65.29%), North Bank Plain Zone (58.22%), Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone (57.09%) and Barak Valley Zone (50.10%) and in all Assam, 61.41% in 2006-07 (Mandal, 2011).
44In 1975-76, only 412.6 tones of HYV paddy seed were distributed throughout the state.
Total area under HYV of autumn rice, winter rice, and summer rice in the state has increased from 1174.85 thousand hectares in 1990-91 to 1901 thousand hectares during 2011-12. However area has declined to 1589 thousand hectares in 2013-14 (Economic Survey, Assam, 2014-15) and area under HYV seeds for autumn rice decelerated from 2.35 lakh hectares in 2005-06 to 1.86 lakh hectares in 2011-12 (Economic Survey, Assam, 2012-13).
Table-3.10: Area and yield of High Yielding Variety (HYV) of rice in Assam:
(Area in ‟000 hectares; Yield in kg/ha)
Period Autumn Rice Winter Rice Summer Rice Total Rice
Area Yield Area Yield Area Yield Area
1990-91 359.12 (59.06)
- 736.69
(40.9)
- 79.05
(67.56)
- 1174.85
(46.51) 1991-92 312
(48.82)
- 762.54
(42.2)
- 75.02
(58.61)
- 1150.00
(44.71) 1992-93 289.88
(45.65)
- 780.28
(43.9)
- 66.83
(45.16)
- 1136.99
(44.43) 1993-94 258.97
(40.65)
- 797.46
(44.4)
- 87.70
(68.52)
- 1144.13
(44.64) 1994-95 239.11
(36.96)
- 778.06
(45.55)
- 99.51
(75.39)
- 1116.67
(44.90) 1995-96 239.74
(38.36)
- 797.16
(45.30)
- 116.14
(74.93)
- 1153.05
(45.40) 1996-97 252.76
(40.77)
- 821.47
(47.32)
- 127.07
(73.88)
- 1201.31
(47.52) 1997-98 234.99
(38.71)
- 875.75
(50.24)
- 136.75
(78.14)
- 1247.49
(49.39) 1998-99 218.40
(36.71)
- 880.72
(53.87)
- 174.83
(78.05)
- 1273.95
(51.91) 1999-00 208.04
(37.35)
1752 975.32 (54.37)
2068 217.73 (73.81)
1693 1401.09
(52.95) 2000-01 251.51
(46.58)
1804 971.86 (54.69)
2154 259.47 (78.87)
2459 1482.84
(56.04) 2001-02 250.18
(50.44)
1720 920.02 (53.65)
2308 259.03 (79.46)
2445 1429.22
(56.33) 2002-03 253.30
(54.59)
1839 937.47 (53.60)
2262 244.91 (74.89)
2518 1435.67
(56.52) 2003-04 216.22
(49.03)
1778 929.14 (52.52)
2263 221.33 (69.38)
2220 1366.70
(54.04) 2004-05 222.29
(50.98)
1851 863.49 (52.78)
2303 234.00 (75.24)
2296 1319.78
(55.38) 2005-06 234.72
(58.97)
1866 950.45 (55.68)
2281 265.53 (84.3)
2192 1450.70
(59.9) 2006-07 214.98
(56.72)
1686 863.05 (57.61)
1990 267.05 (85.6)
2228 1345.08
(61.45) 2007-08 223.00
(63.00)
1858 894.00 (54.28)
2152 278.00 (86.1)
2509 1395.55
(60.0) 2008-09 224.02
(63.82)
1959 974.74 (54.98)
2256 313.63 (87.12)
2371 1512.39
(60.9) 2009-10 228.60
(66.10)
1683 1019.82 (57.00)
2345 340.64
(86.46)
2554 1589.06
(62.83) 2010-11 213.00
(68.05)
1465 1134.00 (61.00)
2551 354.00
(88.72)
2819 1701.00
(66.2) 2011-12 186.00
(67.39)
1470 1161.00 (61.87)
2590 351.00 (89.1)
2825 1901
(74.7) 2012-13 160.00
(67.23)
1558 1170.00 (63.00)
2860 361.00
(91.86)
3280 1691
(68.0)
Note: Parentheses measures % area under HYV by season.
Source: (i) Directorate of Agriculture, Govt. of Assam, (ii) Economic Survey, Assam, Various Issues, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Assam.
From the table 3.10, it is clear that area under HYV seeds of rice in Assam has increased steadily. In 2011-12 it increased to 74.7 percent of total rice area in the state but marginally falls in the two subsequent years. Among three seasonal varieties, adoption of HYV seeds is higher in summer rice. However, summer rice area under HYV seeds declined in 2013-14 and as a result total rice area under HYV seeds has also declined to 63.5 percent compared to about 78 percent acreage brought under HYV seeds in India.
Area under HYV of autumn paddy as percentage of total autumn paddy area exhibited the highest growth followed by winter paddy and summer paddy during 1990-91 to 2011-12.
Iri Paddy Cultivation:
From the latter half of the 90‟s a new variety of paddy known as Iri paddy cultivation is becoming popular among char and low land areas of Assam.45 This cultivation got boosted with the availability of shallow water pumps either as a part of the government scheme or by personaly purchase. It starts during January-February and is harvested after three months. During this period there is negligible rainfall which necessities the use of shallow water pumps. This variety of paddy is undertaken with HYV seeds, high doses of chemical fertilizers, employing large number of agricultural labour and substantial amount of water.Thus, the cost of production of this variety is higher than rest. The overall productivity of iri paddy is more than all other varieties of paddy cultivated by the char dwellers. Another important trend noticeable among char dwellers is that they are leasing of land in kayam (settled) areas in large scale for iri cultivation. Although the exact amount of land under this cultivation could not be ascertained yet it was clear that it is increasingly becoming popular among the char dwellers.
Hybrid Rice in Assam:
45 There are 2251 char villages in Assam spread over 14 districts along the route of the mighty Brahmaputra (Chakraborty, 2006). Cultivable area under chars in Assam was 2.42 lakh hectares which was 8% of total cultivable land of the state (Land Utilization Statistics, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Assam).
2013-14 143.00 (64.13)
1585 1222.00 (64.97)
3010 224.00 (56.14)
3400 1589
(63.5)
In addition to the HYV rice, the State Agriculture Department has started cultivation of hybrid variety of rice on experimental basis since 2009-10 considering the productivity of hybrid rice is more than double of HYV rice as well as farm income. The area under the hybrid rice is increasing gradually in some pockets of Assam. Under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), cultivation of hybrid rice is also one of the components.
The area under hybrid variety of rice covers only 1.9 percent of the total area under rice in the state in the launching year which has increased to 8 percent of total rice area in 2013-14 in Assam (Economic Survey, Assam, 2014-15).
Table-3.11: Area under Hybrid Rice in Assam (Area in „000 hectare):
Crop 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
Kharif Rice (Autumn & Winter)
32.9 37.7 2.5 12.4 25.0
Rabi Rice (Summer Rice)
14.1 25.0 21.7 84.8 178.0
Total 47.0 (1.9) 62.7 (2.4) 24.2 (1.0) 97.2 (3.9) 203.0 (8)
Note: Total figure may not be equal due to rounding off to nearest zero;P Provisional; Figure in parenthesis shows the percentage to Total Rice Area.
Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Assam.
Recently a new initiative for increase in rice production in Assam, System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of cultivation was introduced among the farmers of the state as an alternative to increase per unit productivity of rice.46Devi and Ponnarasi (2009), has calculated cost and return of cultivation of rice both in conventional method and SRI method in Tamil Nadu and find that the total cost of cultivation per hectare was lower by about 10 percent in SRI method (Rs.21655) than conventional method (Rs.25914). Further, it could be seen that the net returns were higher in SRI (Rs.27009) than conventional (Rs.14499) method (see appendix Table III. 3). It was mainly due to the higher productivity of paddy in the SRI method. It was also observed that the benefit- cost ratio was higher in SRI (2.25%) than in conventional (1.56%) method. Jayapalreddy and Shenoy (2013) mentioned that “SRI paddy was introduced to offset the heavy cost of traditional paddy cultivation. Although large number of labour were needed for weed management in traditional paddy, minimal labour was required for weed management in SRI paddy.” SRI was introduced in Assam under the National Food Security Mission
46SRI method of cultivation originated in Madagascar, developed by Fr. Henri de Laulanie in 1980. It saves costly seed, fertilizer, nutrient and weeds management, and irrigation water and crop duration with maximum production. SRI shorten the crop duration facilitating 10 to 15 days ahead of harvesting time in comparison to normal practices and thus open the scope for double cropping (Economic Survey Assam, 2014-15).
(NFSM).47 Area under SRI has been increased fast from 882.2 hectares in 2008-09 to 65150 hectares in 2012-13.
The scheme of NFSM-Rice, launched by the Government of India in 2007-08, has been implemented in 13 districts of Assam selected on the basis of low production and productivity of rice. After six years of implementation from 2007-08 to 2012-13 production of rice increased by 98 percent while productivity increased by 158 percent in the districts (Economic Survey, Assam, 2013-14). The CAGR of productivity and production of autumn rice during the last five years from 2006-07 to 2010-11 were 5.14 and 1.16 percent respectively while in winter rice, there has been a significant growth of 8.57 percent in productivity and 13.35 percent in production and the summer rice has a growth of 5.02 percent in productivity and 10.27 percent in production. The CAGR of total rice has been 8.01 percent in productivity and 11.53 percent in production.