Rising costs make growing rice difficult

  • 3 years ago
Ever thought of the cost of exporting basmati rice if the price were to be measured in terms of water? If we were to consider the virtual export of water, then in 2014-15, when India exported 37.1 lakh tonnes of basmati rice, it also exported 10 trillion litres of water which was used to cultivate the rice — from preparing the land for cultivation to the post-harvest processing of the rice. With water availability becoming increasingly scarce, this indirect export of water is adding to the burden domestically.

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