A gram panchayat in Nalanda district of Bihar has surpassed the Chinese record of paddy production, the Union Agriculture Minister Mr Sharad Pawar informed Parliament today.
“As per the reports received from the state government, the yield of wet paddy has been recorded at 22.4 tonnes per hectare and that of dry paddy at 20.16 tonnes a hectare in the district of Nalanda, Bihar...,” Mr Pawar said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
The record yield was achieved under demonstration on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) which was organised at farmer’s field during kharif 2011, he added.
“It has surpassed the yield of 19 tonnes per hectare which was recorded earlier in China,” Mr Pawar said.
This rare feat has been achieved by Darbespura panchayat in Katri Sarai block of Nalanda, which is also native district of the Chief Minister Mr Nitish Kumar.
India is estimated to have produced a record 102.75 million tonnes of rice in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June).
On incentives provided to increase paddy output, Mr Pawar said the government has been providing financial assistance of Rs 3,000 for organising demonstration of 0.4 hectare each on SRI under National Food Security Mission-Rice (NFSM-Rice) in identified districts of 16 states.
The states included Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and others.
Similarly, under the sub-scheme “Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India” of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), rice crop promotion programmes including SRI are being extended to farmers in the seven states namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.