India a global leader in rice production

CUTTACK, ODISHA, INDIA, April 24, 2019. A long term experimental plot of rice. India is one of the world's largest producers of rice accounting for about one fifth of all world rice production. With a record rice production of 115.6 million tonnes, the overall food grain production in the country is likely to be 281.37 million tonnes in 2018-19. Rice is India's most important crop, and is the staple food for two thirds of the 1.3 billion population. The National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in Cuttack, Odisha in Eastern India has developed over 100 different rice varieties and helped India become a net exporter of food grains from a pitiable ship-to-mouth existence when food grains were imported in ship loads merely 40 to 50 years ago. The institute helps breed new varieties of rice that are climate smart. (Photo by Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)