GUWAHATI, Sept 27 � Assam is likely to catch up with the national average in rice productivity if recent trends are any indication. According to well placed sources, with significantly better yields in the last two years, the gap between the state figure and national figure is closing, and by 2013-14 rice productivity is projected to reach the national average that now stands at 2,227 kg per ha.
After years of remaining stagnant, rice productivity in the state has witnessed a jump in the last few years. During the period 2010-11, the productivity stood at 1,969 kg per ha, which in 2006-07 was at 1,349 kg per ha.
In the primarily agrarian state, rice production too has witnessed a noticeable increase in the last few years. In the period 2010-11 the production of rice was 50.86 lakh MT, which elevated the state to the eighth rank among all rice producing states of India. The latest production is a 15.4 per cent increase over the corresponding figure of 2009-10.
The increase in production and productivity is attributed to a number of factors, by RT Jindal, the Agriculture Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary Agriculture, Assam. He told The Assam Tribune, �It is not that area under agriculture has very substantially increased, but it is human interventions which have brought in noticeable gains�.
The increase in yield has been made possible by multiple interventions at several levels. �Better inputs made available to rice cultivation have been key elements in changing the scenario,� he said.
Jindal mentioned that improved access to quality seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, farm equipment, technical knowhow, each had a role in increasing both production and productivity.
