Question

How many varieties of rice are grown in India?
A. 1000
B. 40000
C. 5000
D. 10000

Answer 1

Hint: Rice is produced at large scale in India, being a principal staple food crop. It is grown in areas receiving ample rainfall and the largest producers are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Complete answer:Rice is known to Indian subcontinent from about the time cultivation started with one variety called Indica grown in the north-eastern areas, while later around 1500 BC, others called Japonica came to be grown in the southern parts.
The Central Rice Research Institute’ director R.H. Richharia and other rice specialist S. Govindaswami in their research in the 1950s collected various varieties of rice present in India, giving the estimate of 200000. This number was further studied and zeroed to 110000.
Currently, India is home to a variety of white, brown, black and red rice along with fragrant and exotic biryani rice. There are varieties specific to localities with geographical indication (GI) tags. The numbers of rice varieties grown now are reduced to 5000 after the Green Revolution in the 1960s, which led to development of hybrid varieties to increase yield. This resulted in use of mono culture varieties which differed from local varieties. These demanded more irrigation and use of chemical fertilizers. This move of dwarf hybrid rice taking over local varieties has been critiqued by several rice specialists. Even a few of these are engaged in the seed conservation or creation of local gene banks of varieties limited to tribal communities or small localities.
Hence, option C is the correct answer.

Note: India has almost half of its cultivable land under rice cultivation. It is the largest exporter of rice over the world and second largest producer of rice after China.