Rice is the primary staple food for more than half of the world’s population. Area under rice in India is 43.86 million hectare, largest in the world. The country stands next only to China in terms of production and consumption of rice. In Jammu and Kashmir it is the staple food for the people and its cultivation extends from the plains having altitude 1570 m to high hills 2180 m above mean sea level.
In a situation when population is expanding at galloping rate and the shrinking of land resources is unprecedented, production per unit area must increase. That is why ample attention has been paid in past, at present and shall continue in future for crop improvement and technology dissemination related to rice. Development of new varieties with higher yield potential and desirable traits has been crucial in bridging the enormous gap between what was produced at the time of independence and what could be produced.
The contribution made by the State Agriculture University SKUAST-Kashmir through Mountain Research Center for Filed Crops (MRCFC), situated at Khudwani in district Kulgam, in terms of development of varieties and related package of practices is immense. The breakthrough was achieved back in late 1960s with the introduction of China varieties including China 1039, China 1007, China 988 and so on, through this station. Before the cultivation of these varieties the productivity of rice was hovering around 1 to 1.5t/ha. The first indigenous cold tolerant variety bred at the station was K332 in the year 1975 followed by K-78 (Barkat) in year 1976. These varieties are suitable for high altitudes.
A revolutionary variety K-39 was the first high yielding variety developed by this station in year 1982 for the plains of the valley. This was the only variety possessing yield potential above 5t/ha. The research efforts led to new breakthroughs in the form of Chenab and Jhelum varieties in 1996, recommended for Chenab valley of Jammu and Kashmir divisions respectively, with yield potential of 60 and 65 q/ha.
K-39 and K-78 varieties developed at MRCFC are also grown in countries like Nepal and Bhutan. The yield potential of these varieties was more than three times compared to the traditional varieties. The good work kept on going with the development of Shalimar series of rice for different ecologies including varieties like Shalimar Rice 1, Shalimar Rice 2, Shalimar Rice 3, Shalimar Rice 4 and Shalimar Rice 5. The latest variety Shalimar Rice 4 possesses a yield potential of 10t/ha. Feedback received from farmers and the Department of Agriculture is even 12t/ha.
Fine grain basmati type variety, once considered unfeasible to be cultivated under temperate valley situations, has been made possible through the development and release of Shalimar Sugandh 1, the first fine grain aromatic variety. Similarly, SR-5 variety developed for high altitude ecologies is gaining momentum due to early maturity and good cooking quality. This journey from 1 to 10 t/ha involved dedicated team efforts of the scientific and supporting staff at MRCFC for which the station has received generous appreciation from the ICAR and the J&K administration. The centre is on a mission to develop niche specific varieties of rice to meet the demand and preferences of farmers across Kashmir.
Genetic improvement of high valued local rice landraces to mitigate various biotic stresses is under progress at the centre. Another major milestone of the centre is the revival programme of high value local rice through genetic improvement, disease management and refinement of agronomic package of practices. The outcome of the revival programme is the socio-economic development of Mushk Budji farmers of Tehsil Kokernag, District Anantnag, who have earned in crores (INR) by cultivating and selling pure Mushk Budji as branded product.
The farming communities of Sagam (Anantnag) and Tangdar (Kupwara) for the niche Mushk Budji and Red rice (Zag) respectively, were conferred Plant Genome Savior Community Awards comprising award certificates and INR 10 Lakh each. Recently, genetically improved blast resistant version of Mushk Budji (Shalimar Rice-6) has been developed which can be cultivated without application of fungicides.
During the station visits this year, the monitoring teams from across the country and J&K Govt appreciated the outstanding contribution made by the center during the last seven decades. These efforts have made it possible to achieve highest productivity of rice in the country. The average rice productivity in India is 2.4t/ha while as in Kashmir valley we harvest 6.9 t/ha on average, which is around 190% higher than the national average. Both research and technology dissemination efforts have made this possible in this part of the country.
Technologies always need policy support and one of course is the agriculture extension system comprising a network of Agriculture Science Centers (Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and the agriculture development department in each district. As evident from the recent data, both KVKs and Agriculture Department have done commendable work in terms of transfer of technologies in almost all the major field crops including rice. Frontline demonstration programmes coupled with quality seed availability and technical backstopping through extension system have played a key role in this regard. Research has done a great job in combining yield and other desirable traits in particular varieties and almost achieving the biological limits, but a great deal of research work is needed to develop climate resilient technologies including crop varieties. The role of this station is therefore dynamic to cater the needs of the present and future farming.
The technologies relevant at present may not be so in future given to the degrading natural resource, shrinking land, increasing population pressures, shifting disease and insect pest dynamics under changing climate scenario. There is still scope for narrowing the existing yield gaps between present production and the potential yield through awareness and convincing through live demonstrations to the farmers. That needs more strong coordination among different stakeholders, particularly in reaching the unreached section of farming community predominantly working in far flung and high-altitude ecologies.
It is important to understand that a crop variety possess a set of other technology components to realise full potential and ignoring the related package of practice may sometimes result in high yield penalty. Researchers are doing commendable job and so is the extension machinery, but policies related to land use need to be implement on priority to avoid crisis in the future. The conversion of agriculture land to non-farm activates is happening at an alarming rate. Productivity can go only up to a certain limit and even sustaining the present production will be a challenge given the reasons explained above, so taking other measures is equally important.
Dr T. Mubarak is Chief Scientist Agronomy (MRCFC)-SKUAST-Kashmir; Dr N.R. Sofi Is Associate Director Research (MRCFC)-SKUAST-Kashmir; and Dr Sarfaraz A Wani is Director Research SKUAST-Kashmir.
Email: [email protected]

Dr T. Mubarak, Dr N.R. Sofi & Dr Sarfaraz A Wani