Spurs and Props of Agricultural Research - Economic and Social under Plumings - A Case Study of Rice Research in India

The paper deals with the problem of agricultural research management, particularly with reference to rice research in India. The growth of rice production has lagged behind wheat production mainly because the rice research has not been as effective as wheat research. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that the rice research has to be much more location specific than wheat research. As rice is produced in a variety of agro-climatic conditions, much more adaptive research is required. The socio-economic factors seem to govern rice production to a greater extent than wheat production. The classification of districts in India according to the levels of rice production revealed that about 25% of the total number of rice-growing districts (338) had 64% of the total area under rice and 67% of the total rice production in the country. These districts were designated as A-districts. The yield per hectare of rice in A-districts was higher than other districts. The classification of districts according to productivity showed that there were 10 districts having yield per hectare more than 2.5 tonnes of rice. Out of these 10 districts only one district belongs to traditional rice-growing states whereas other 9 districrts belong to n n-traditional rice growing states. This shows that there are special problems which hamper the productivity in the traditional rice growing states. The study has located high-growth-rate high-productivity and low-productivity low-growth-rate A-district in traditional rice-growing states. It is proposed that a study should be undertaken to find out the factors which have contributed to the differences in productivities of these two groups. Having identified these factors it should be possible to improve the rice research and other developmental programmes for increasing productivity of rice. The case study of rice would also help identify policy problems for agricultural research management and agricultural development management.