How once food-poor India’s advanced seed genetics usurped China’s global dominance of rice production

India has become the world’s largest rice producer, beating China, with a total output of 150.18 million tonnes, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday, as he released 184 new varieties of 25 crops.

These new high-yielding seed varieties would boost crop production and enhance farmers’ income, he said, while directing the ministry officials to ensure that these new varieties reach farmers quickly.

Chouhan said that the country has entered a new era of agricultural revolution on the strength of the development of high-yielding and climate-resilient seeds.

The Union minister said that this achievement is the result of the collective efforts of the ICAR [Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s] All India Coordinated Projects on crops, state and central agricultural universities, and private seed companies.

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These varieties, which have been developed by ICAR institutes, state/central agricultural universities, and private seed companies, are climate-resilient, high-yielding, and resistant to major pests and diseases.

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