It is the chief food crop of India. The chief rice-growing states are West Bengal, U.P., Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. It is also grown in several other parts of India. Due to Japanese method of rice cultivation the production of rice has increased, but even then India is just self-sufficient in rice. In 1951, the rice production was only 20.6 million tonnes.
India is now in a position to export basmati rice to the Gulf and other, countries. In rice improvement programme three new varieties (Jawahar Rice 3-45, VL Dhan 61 and Triguna) were released for various agro-ecological situations in different states).
China, India, Japan, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the chief rice-producing countries.
