India has officially emerged as the world’s top producer of rice, overtaking China and marking a major milestone in global agriculture. According to the United States Department of Agriculture USDA December 2025 report, India’s rice production has reached an estimated 152 million tonnes, surpassing China’s output of 146 million tonnes. With this achievement, India now accounts for over 28 percent of the world’s total rice production, strengthening its position as a global food security leader.

This success, however, is the result of decades of scientific innovation, agricultural reforms and the critical contribution of Indian states such as Odisha. At the time of Independence, India produced only 20.58 million tonnes of rice annually. The situation worsened during the 1960s when the country faced severe food grain shortages. Rice cultivation depended largely on traditional long stem varieties that yielded barely 800 kilograms per hectare and collapsed when fertilisers and irrigation were applied.

The introduction of urea fertiliser created new possibilities, but Indian rice varieties lacked the strong dwarf stems required to withstand higher nutrient and water inputs. To overcome this challenge, Taiwan’s semi dwarf rice variety Taichung Native 1 TN1 was introduced in India. TN1 proved revolutionary and became a cornerstone of the Green Revolution, significantly improving rice yields. Soon after, in 1968, the International Rice Research Institute introduced IR 8, popularly known as Miracle Rice, further accelerating production growth.

Building on these developments, Indian scientists began cross breeding rice varieties in 1969 to develop indigenous high yielding crops. Odisha played a decisive role during this phase. Scientists cross bred the local rice variety T 141 with TN1 to create Jaya, India’s first domestically developed dwarf rice variety. By reducing stem height from 150 centimetres to 90 centimetres, Jaya prevented crop lodging and dramatically increased productivity. This breakthrough transformed rice farming in India and laid the foundation for sustained growth in production.

Today, India is home to nearly 60,000 rice varieties out of approximately 123,000 varieties found worldwide, reflecting its immense genetic diversity. The country exports rice to 172 nations, reinforcing its dominance in global markets. In 2024–25, India exported agricultural products worth a record Rs 450,840 crore, with rice contributing nearly 24 percent of the total. Combined exports of basmati and non basmati rice earned India Rs 105,720 crore in foreign exchange in a single year.

Despite leading the world in rice production and exports, India still faces challenges in productivity. While the area under rice cultivation is larger than China’s, per hectare yields remain comparatively lower. Official data shows that rice yields increased from 668 kilograms per hectare in 1950–51 to 1,235 kilograms by 1975–76 after the adoption of dwarf varieties. Productivity rose further to 1,901 kilograms per hectare in 2000–01 and 2,809 kilograms per hectare in 2021–22.

The USDA estimates that India’s average rice yield will reach 4,390 kilograms per hectare in 2025–26. However, this remains below the global average and significantly lower than China’s yield of around 7,100 kilograms per hectare. Bridging this gap is crucial, especially considering the high water requirements of rice cultivation and the need for sustainable agricultural practices.

India’s rise as the world’s largest rice producer is a story of scientific innovation, international collaboration and local ingenuity. Odisha’s Jaya variety stands as a powerful symbol of how indigenous research helped transform Indian agriculture and secure the nation’s food future.