Average Rice Productivity Should Be Increased

In order to help Tamil Nadu achieve self-sufficiency and trade requirement of rice by 2010 from an estimated 20.76 lakh hectares,the average productivity should be increased to 4.75 tonnes per hectare, according to scientists in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). "The issue is how to provide low cost rice and at the same time, maintain comparative advantage in rice production in the state, where rice continues to be the number one crop that provides livelihood for a large number of rural people," C Ramasamy and K N Selvaraj of the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies of TNAU said in their research paper recently.

Tamil Nadu has 3.5 per cent of India's rice area and 9.6 per cent of rice production, with productivity at 2541 kg per hectare during 2006-06, Ramasamy said. The State's rice production stood at 52.09 lakh tonnes during the review period and production declined at the rate of 1.33 per cent between 1990 and 2004, despite increase in productivity by 1.96 per cent, they said. Tamil Nadu is marginally deficit in rice, which is made up by drawing from the Central pool to meet the increased food demand.

There are constraints in raising agricultural productivity, primarily by the sall size of holdings. As a result, productivity enhancing technologies and management methods became unaffordable and uneconomical, Ramasamy said. The per capita availability of land in Tamil Nadu was only 0.19 hectare, while per capita net sown area was only 0.10 hectare. Consequently, productivity was low and the total production varied substantially.

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