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Abstract
Rice is the most important cereal food crop of India, occupying one-fourth of the gross cropped area of the country. As the basic food crop, rice is cultivated comfortably in hot and humid climate. In the country, the crop is mainly grown as a Kharif crop in rainfed areas that receive heavy annual rainfall. India’s already large population is expected to become the world’s largest in the next 20 years, while its economy will soon overtake Japan’s to become the world’s third largest. India has a particularly large agricultural sector. While the sector’s share of GDP has halved in the past 30 years to around 15 per cent, it still employs around half of India’s workforce and accounts for much of the volatility in Indian GDP.