(a) whether sowing of rice has picked up pace across the country;
(b) if so, the pace of rice sowing in different States in the current year as compared to the last three years, Statewise; and
(c) the encouragement being given to rice sowing farmers for the current year, State-wise?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (PROF. K.V. THOMAS)
(a) & (b): As per preliminary trends received from the State Governments as on 16-07-2010,
area coverage under rice has been 124.78 lakh hectares which is higher by 2.38 lakh hectares as
compared to the area coverage of 122.40 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of last
year. State-wise details of sowing position of rice in the country during the year 2010-11
(as on 16.07.2010) along with the sowing during the corresponding periods in the last three
years are given in the Annexure.
(c): In order to encourage farmers to increase production and productivity of rice in the
country, the Government of India is implementing various programmes such as Naitonal Food
Security Mission (NFSM), Macro Management of Agriculture (MMA), and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas
Yojana (RKVY) etc. National Food Security Mission (NFSM) is being implemented in 17 States
of the country. Major interventions being promoted under NFSM-Rice include; giving incentives
for use of latest agricultural machinery/tools, providing subsidy for production and distribution
of Hybrid rice seeds, providing mini kits of High Yielding Variety rice & Hybrid rice, conducting
large number of demonstrations to promote High Yielding Varieties of rice, promoting use of
System of Rice Intensifiction (SRI) techniques for rice cultivation etc. Besides, the Minimum
Support Price for paddy is also announced by the Government to ensure remunerative prices to
farmers.