Rice-based cropping systems for enhancing productivity of food grains in India: decadal experience of AICRP

While most rice is grown in the kharif (wet-season, roughly July-December), rice is also grown in the rabi (dry-season, roughly January-June) in many states of India. Approximately 55% of India's rice crop is irrigated, up from about 45% in 1990; the fraction of rice area that is irrigated varies by state from <50% irrigated in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Bihar, to >90% in Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Haryana. Existing All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project at Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad provides sufficient information on the decadal changes in the cropping systems research, further to quantify and reach a future novel research strategy to enhance productivity of rice based cropping systems.