🌾 India: World's No.1 Rice Producer in 2024-25 📈 Rice output: 149.1 million tonnes (↑2.5% from last year) 🆚 China: Estimated at 145M tonnes in 2024-25 🔄 But at a cost — India’s pulse & oilseed crops declining due to shift to rice --- 💡 Why Farmers Prefer Rice? ✅ MSP assurance by government ✅ Lower risk vs. pulses/oilseeds ✅ Less water needed in irrigated regions ⚠️ But... needs 4–5x more water than pulses, unsustainable in dry areas like Punjab & Haryana --- 🛢️ India’s Heavy Import Bill on Pulses & Oils 💰 FY25 Pulses import: ₹46,128 crore (↑49%) 🛢️ Cooking oils + pulses = ₹1.9 trillion import 🔁 That's double the value of India’s rice exports (₹1.05 trillion) --- 🍚 Cereal-Rich, Nutrition-Poor India 🥣 Cereals = 50–70% of Indian calorie intake 🧬 Pulses/protein-rich food only 6–9% (should be ~14%) ⚠️ High refined cereal intake linked to diabetes & poor nutrition --- 🔧 Fixing the Cereal Bias: What Govt Can Do? 📌 Promote pulses & oilseeds with better MSP 📌 Lower import duties on oils like palm & soy 📌 Promote climate-resilient crops 📌 Use eco-labels & warnings on ultra-processed cereals 📌 Offer incentives for less water-intensive farming --- 📊 2024-25 Production (in million tonnes): 🌾 Rice: 149.1 🌱 Arhar: 3.6 ↓ 🌻 Soybean: 15.2 ↑