Production and Marketing Aspects of Paddy in India

India has the largest area under paddy in the world and ranks second in the production after china. One fifth of the world's population i.e., more than a billion people depend on rice cultivation for their live hoods. The global area of paddy increased from 1,32,655 thousand ha. in 1970 to 1,58,913 thousand ha. in 2011, while the productivity rose from 2.36 tonne/ha to 4.36 tonne/ha. India tops among the paddy growing countries globally for the triennium ending 2011 with an area of 43,183 thousand ha. India accounts for more than 75 per cent of global trade in rice. Minimum support prices announced by the Government have pronounced impact on the market price of the farm commodities. The Government had increased the minimum support price for paddy over the years. The results of the Granger causality test indicated that international non-basmati rice prices in Thailand influenced the prices of all the selected markets in India viz., Nizamabad, Suryapet, Sindhanur and Maddur but not vice versa. The results of ARCH-GARCH analysis revealed that the paddy prices in all the selected markets were more or less stable.