Rainfed rice - IRRI books - International Rice Research Institute

Rice Area in Different
Ecosystems in Eastern India
E
astern India is home to 680 million people who largely depend on rice
farming. Mega-level analysis of the four regions of India indicated that
rice yields in northern and southern India have increased rapidly in
recent years. But yields remained stagnant in eastern India (except in West
Bengal, which experienced rapid growth in recent years).
Eastern India, which comprises eastern Uttar Pradesh, eastern Madhya Pradesh
and the entire states of Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa, is the largest rice-
growing region in the country and accounts for about 63.3% of India’s rice area
(26.8 million ha). The average rice yield in five of the six states is 2.7 t/ha. About
78.7% of the rice farming in the region is rainfed. Rainfall is moderate to high
and is limited to a short period. This results in drought in the uplands and
flooding in the lowlands.
The macro-level analysis of rice-growing ecosystems in eastern India revealed
that only 21.3% (5.7 million ha) of the 26.8 million ha rice area is irrigated
(Table 1).
About 16% of the area (4.3 million ha) is upland, 48% (12.9 million ha) is
rainfed lowland (0-50 cm water depth), and the remaining 14.6%, (3.9 million
ha) is deepwater or very deepwater (50 to >100 cm depth). For the rainfed
lowland ecosystems, about 82% of the area (10.6 million ha) has shallow water
depth (0-30 cm), and 18% (2.3 million ha) has medium water depth (30-50 cm).
Table 1. Rice area (million ha) in different ecosystems in eastern India
State Irrigated Upland Rainfed lowland Deepwater Very deepwater Total
0-30 cm 30-50 cm (50-100 cm) (>100 cm)
Assam 0.2 0.2 0.9 0.5 0.4 0.1 2.3
Bihar 1.5 0.5 1.7 0.5 0.4 0.7 5.3
Orissa
Madhya Pradesh
1.1
0.6
0.7
1.3
1.7
2.7
0.5 0.4 0.1
– – –
4.5
4.6
Uttar Pradesh 1.0 0.7 1.9 0.3 0.2 0.5 4.6
West Bengal 1.3 0.9 1.7 0.5 0.4 0.7 5.5
Total 5.7 4.3 10.6 2.3 1.8 2.1 26.8
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