Hybrid rice area to be increased to 25% by 2015 in India: Expert

COIMBATORE: The Union Government is aiming to increase the area under hybrid rice cultivation to 25 per cent of all rice cultivated area by 2015, a top scientist in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has said.

As against the 400 million tonne of foodgrains produced in China from 100 million hectares, India produced only 250 millon tonnes from 140 million hectares, Dr P Subbian, Registrar, TNAU has said.

This was mainly due to the use of hybrid rice in China, where nearly 50 per cent of the rice area was under hybrid rice cultivation, whereas in India, hybrid rice cultivated area was less than six per cent of the 44 million hectare area under rice, he said.

He was speaking after releasing a manual at Annual Seed workshop held at the University recently, where 80 scientists across the country participated, a TNAU release said today.

As against total requirement of 48 lakh tonnes of seeds, only 37 per cent was met by the public and private sectors, while the rest was managed by farm-saved seeds, he said.

At the same time, in Tamil Nadu the total seed requirement was 2.50 lakh tonnes, whereas total seed supply by all agencies put together was only to 24 per cent, leaving a gap of 76 per cent, Subbian said.

The gap was more in the case of agriculture crops compared to horticultural crops and therefore the Government was keen to maximise quality seed production in Tamil Nadu,he added.