Riceisoneoftheprincipalcropspro-ducedandconsumedinIndia.In2010-2011thelandareaplantedwithricewas42.86millionhectares(13%ofthetotallandarea).In2010Indiawasthesecondlargestproducerofriceintheworld,withaharvestof95.98milliontones.In2010-2011Indiaexported2.37milliontonnesofBasmatirice,valuedat113.55billionrupees(2.1billioncurrentUSD).Non-Basmatiriceexportsweresigni icantlyless,amountingtoroughly100thousandtonnesandvaluedat2.3billionrupees(40millioncurrentUSD).Riceisasigni -icantcomponentoftheIndiandiet.In2009-2010annualriceconsumptionwasestimatedtobe74.7kgperpersoninru-ralareasand56.64kgperpersoninur-banareas.In2009-2010,ricerepresent-edjustover50percentoftotalcerealconsumption.

TheresultsofthisanalysisareseenintheLandSuitabilityforRainfedRiceProduc-tionmap.Inthismapthemostsuitableareasforrainfedriceproductionareshadedinlightgreen,whileunsuitablear-easaredarkgreen.The ivesuitabilityvariablesaredisplayedinVariableMaps1-5.

anyrainfedricein2000.Perhapsthereisanothercropgrownintheseareasthatismoresuitablefortheagro-ecologicalcon-text,orperhapsriceproductionisirrigat-ed.TheseresultsshowthatIndiaisforthemostpartmaximizingthecroplandthatiscapableofproducingrainfedrice;however,therearesomeareaswhere

Inordertomaximizethecountry’sriceproduction,itwouldbeidealifthericeproducedinIndiaweregrownontheag-riculturallandsmostsuitedforriceculti-vation.ThisstudyseekstounderstandifthecurrentriceproductioninIndiaisgrownonthelandthatismostsuitedforricecultivation.ThisstudywilluseGISanalysistoundertakeariceproductionsuitabilityanalysisandcomparethere-sultofthatanalysiswiththecurrentloca-tionofricecropland.GiventhestressedstateofIndia’sgroundwatersupply,thecompetingdemandsforsurfacewater,andthefactthatthemajorityofpoorsmallholdersarenotusingirrigation,thisanalysiswillfocusonthesuitabilityforrain-fedriceproduction.

Thelandareathatwasidenti iedassuita-bleforrainfedriceproductioniscloselyalignedwiththeactuallandareaplantedtorainfedricein2000.Interestinglythereappeartobeareasinthecentralpartofthecountryandinsouth-westernGujaratthataresuitableforrainfedriceproduction,butdidnotharvestmuchor

rainfedriceproductioncouldbesuccess-fullyexpanded.Futureexpansionofrain-fedriceproductionintheareaswhereitisviablemaybecomeanecessityifgroundwatersourcesinIndiacontinuetobecontaminatedordepleted.

Cartographer:DanaGoldman(May2013)CoordinateSystem:UTMWGS198444NDataSources:EuropeanSpaceAgencyGlobCover2009(GlobalLandCover Map)(http://due.esrin.esa.int/globcover/)FAO/IIASA.GlobalAgro-EcologicalZones(GAEZv3.0).FAO, Rome,ItalyandIIASA,Laxenburg,Austria(2010). (http://gaez.fao.org/Main.html#)Fekete,B.M.etal.“High-resolution ieldsofglobalrunoff combiningobservedriverdischargeandsimulatedwa terbalances”GlobalBiogeochemicalCycles,16.3 (2002):15-1to15-10.ShuttleRadarTopographyMission(2012) (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/)References:FAO.“Guidelinesforland-useplanning”FoodandAgriculture Organization,Rome(1996).GovernmentofIndia.“AgriculturalStatisticsataGlance 2012”MinistryofAgriculture,DepartmentofAgricul tureandCooperation,DirectorateofEconomicsand Statistics(2012).Mongkolsawat,C.etal.“Aphysicalevaluationoflandsuitabil ityforrice:AmethodologicalstudyusingGIS”InPro ceedingsoftheAsianConferenceonRemoteSensing (ACRS’97),KualaLumpur,Malaysia(1997).

Agricultural Suitability in India: Determining Op mal Loca ons for Rainfed Rice Produc on

Introduc on 

Thereare ivevariablesthatwereusedtoperformthericeproductionlandsuitabil-ityanalysis:nutrientavailability,eleva-tion,slope,annualprecipitationandcur-rentlandcover.Eachvariable,exceptlandcover,wasreclassi ied1-4,with1beingthemostsuitableforrainfedriceproductionand4beingtheleastsuitable.The1through4classi icationsystemwasselectedbasedontheFAOguidelinesforlanduseplanningwhichemploysa1-4classi icationrangingfromHighlySuita-bletoNotSuitable.

Theelevationclassi icationwasselectedbecauseloweraltitudesaremorecondu-civetoriceproduction.Athigheralti-tudescoldertemperaturesrestrictplantgrowth.Thelandcoverclassi ication(suitableorunsuitable)wasintendedtoeliminateareasthatwereimpossibleforriceproduction.Theareasclassi iedasunsuitablearearti icialareas,bareareas,waterbodiesandpermanentsnowandice.Thenutrientavailabilityclassi ica-

tionwasde inedbytheFAOandreferstosoilfertility.Theprecipitationclassi ica-tionwasselectedbecauseoftheim-portanceofrainfallinstrictlyrainfedpro-ductionsystems.Theslopeclassi icationwasselectedbecause latsurfacesareidealforriceproductionasequalwaterdispersionanddepthiscritical.

Afterde iningthe1-4classi icationforeachsuitabilityvariable,asuitabilitymapofideallandforrainfedriceproductionwascreatedbycombiningthevariablescoresineachlocation.Locationswithlandcoverthatwereunsuitableforrain-fedriceproductionwereautomaticallyclassi iedinthesuitabilityanalysisasun-suitable.Finally,theharvestedareaofrainfedricein2000wasusedasthepointofcomparisonforthesuitabilityanalysisoutput.

Methodology 

Land Suitability for Rainfed Rice Produc on 

Results and Conclusions 

Rainfed Rice Produc on in 2000 

*Theharvestedareawasmappedbyplottingthesquarekilometersofrainfedriceharvestedpergrid.Inthismapthegridsare5arcminutes.Therefore,thescalecorrespondstothesquarekilometersharvestedpereve-ry25squarekilometers.