How India overtook China to become the world's top rice producer
How India overtook China to become the world's top rice producer
India has shattered China's dominance that had continued for years in the field of rice. By overtaking China, India has reached number one in the world in terms of rice production.
The country's share in total global
rice production has crossed more than 28%. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also acknowledged India's achievement.
In its December 2025 report, the USDA said India's rice production has reached 152 million metric tonnes, while China's output stands at 146 million metric tonnes.
With this, India has become the world's "rice king".
This record will require a revision of long-held assumptions that China is the world's largest rice-producing country. An interesting aspect of India's success is the significant contribution made by Taiwan. Relations between China and Taiwan remain extremely tense.
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Rice has been grown and consumed in India since ancient times. Whenever the origin of rice is discussed, India's name is often mentioned first. There are about 123,000 varieties of rice in the world, of which nearly 60,000 are found in India.
This highlights India's richness in rice diversity. However, in terms of production, India had lagged far behind China for a long time.
This is the first time India has overtaken China in rice production.
Dr Sudhanshu Singh, Director of the South Asia Regional Centre at the International Rice Institute, says that India's emergence as the world's largest rice producer is a major achievement. Indian rice is exported to 172 countries, and rice has also become an important tool of India's foreign policy.
EARNINGS FROM RICE
In 2024–25, India exported agricultural produce worth a record Rs 450,840 crore, with rice accounting for the largest share of about 24%.
By exporting basmati and non-basmati rice, India earned foreign exchange worth Rs 105,720 crore in a single year.
This underlines the importance of rice to the Indian economy.
TAIWAN'S CONTRIBUTION
At the time of Independence, India produced only 20.58 million metric tonnes of rice annually. By 2025, this figure had risen to 152 million metric tonnes.
This record in rice production is undoubtedly the result of the hard work of farmers and scientists. However, Taiwan also played a significant role in India's success in rice cultivation, which merits special mention.
In the 1960s, India was struggling with a shortage of food grains. At the time, cultivation was limited to traditional long-stem rice varieties, with yields of only about 800 kg per hectare.
By then, urea had been introduced as a chemical fertiliser. While the use of fertiliser and additional water could increase output, this required dwarf and strong-stem varieties, which India did not have.
Indian varieties tended to lodge when fertiliser and water were used, as their long stems caused the crop to fall over. This led to the need for dwarf varieties to increase production and address food shortages.
Taiwan stepped in to meet this requirement by providing its dwarf rice variety, Taichung Native-1 (TN1). This transformed Indian agriculture. Taichung Native-1 played a key role in the Green Revolution and is considered the world's first semi-dwarf rice variety.
IR-8 CHANGED THE WORLD
Another dwarf rice variety, IR-8, was introduced in India in 1968 by the International Rice Research Institute. This triggered a rapid increase in production. Because of its revolutionary productivity, IR-8 came to be known as "Miracle Rice".
In 1969, Indian scientists began cross-breeding these varieties.
In Odisha, a local rice variety called T-141 was cross-bred with Taichung Native-1 to develop 'Jaya', India's first domestically developed dwarf rice variety. Its stem length was reduced from 150 centimetres to 90 centimetres, leading to a sharp rise in production.
After this breakthrough, India did not look back in rice cultivation.
BASMATI'S SUCCESS
India is also the world's largest producer of basmati rice. Exports of basmati rice have crossed Rs 50,000 crore. A distinct global market has developed for Indian basmati varieties. India also holds the record for producing the world's longest rice grain.
This record belongs to Pusa Basmati-1121 (PB 1121). The uncooked grain is about 9 mm long and extends to between 15 and 22 mm after cooking.
Apart from basmati, at least 15 other Indian rice varieties have received the Geographical Indication tag.
CHALLENGE BEFORE INDIA
Despite becoming number one in rice production and exports, India still lags behind in one important area. Although the area under rice cultivation in India is larger than China's, per-hectare yields remain significantly lower.
According to the Union Agriculture Ministry, India produced only 668 kg of rice per hectare in 1950–51.
This increased to 1,235 kg by 1975–76 after the introduction of dwarf varieties and increased fertiliser use. Yield rose to 1,901 kg per hectare in 2000–01 and further to 2,809 kg in 2021–22.
The USDA estimates that India's average rice yield will reach 4,390 kg per hectare in 2025–26.
However, this remains below the global average, which is a concern. Matching China's yield of about 7,100 kg per hectare would mark a major milestone, particularly as rice cultivation requires large amounts of wate
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