Farmer’s Preferences for Rice and Wheat

Prelims:  Economic Geography of India | Agriculture

Why in News?

In last few decades times, both rice and wheat acreages across India was rising than other crops.

• Reason for preferences - The most primary reason for expansion in rice and wheat area is the government’s near-guaranteed purchases of the 2 crops at minimum support prices (MSP).
• This kind of government backstop does not exist for other crops, discouraging their cultivation.
  • For instance, Punjab’s cotton area has plunged from 3.4 lh in 2015-16 to one lh in 2024-25 and in Madhya Pradesh.
• They are being grown largely under irrigated conditions.
• They also receive priority with regard to public breeding and research support.
  • Cotton has seen no new breeding breakthroughs after the genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton hybrids commercialised during 2002-06.
  • Recently, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) unveiled a genetically-edited (GE) mutant line of a rice & wheat.
• Being non-lodging made them more responsive to fertiliser and water application.
• They both have relatively lesser yield risk than other crops.
  • For example, yields in most oilseeds, pulses and other field crops have been flat or registered modest increases
• The 1^st generation of Green Revolution wheat varieties such as Kalyan Sona and Sonalika, released in the late-1960s, yielded an average 3.8 tonnes of grain per hectare under normal growing conditions in farmers’ fields

• These wheat varieties were bred for not only higher yields, but also for resistance against rust diseases (caused by fungal pathogens) and climate-smart traits.

The HD-3385 variety of wheat released in 2023, for example, yields an average of 6 tonnes per hectare and potential of over 7.3 tonnes. It is, moreover, resistant to all major rusts – yellow (stripe), black (stem) and brown (leaf).

Quick Facts

• Cytokinins - They are plant hormones that help increase the number of grains per panicle.
• DST (drought and salt tolerance) gene - It acts as a negative regulator, inhibiting the rice plant’s tolerance to abiotic stresses such as heat and salinity.

Reference

The Indian Express| Preference for Rice and Wheat Cropping in India