President Murmu attends 2nd Indian Rice Congress at ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack

Tags: Sports News

President Draupadi Murmu attended the 2nd Indian Rice Congress at the National Institute of Rice Research (ICAR) in Cuttack, Odisha on February 11.

An overview of the news

• President Draupadi has called for reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers to save soil health.

• She underlined the importance of bio-fortified rice as rice is the only source of nutrition for a large number of poor people.

• She called upon the scientists to develop more and more eco-friendly varieties of rice to address the challenges of drought, water scarcity, soil health and climate change.

• The government has started a pilot project to distribute bio-fortified rice through the PDS and provision has been made in the budget for the same.

• Under Aatmanirbhar package, the government has approved Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the development of the agriculture sector.

About Rice

• Rice is a staple food for most of the population in India. It is a Kharif crop.

• It requires high temperature (above 25 °C) and high humidity with annual rainfall above 100 cm.

• West Bengal is the major rice producing state where three crops of rice are grown, called 'Aus', 'Aman' and 'Boro'.

• Rice is cultivated in about one-fourth of the total cropped area in India.

• Major producing states: West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

• India is the second largest producer of rice after China.