New Delhi, June 17 -- India has toppled China to become the world's largest rice producer. While this is a milestone, the surge in rice production has come at the cost of pulses and oilseeds-crops where India is heavily dependent on imports. Mint explains what's at stake.

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India's rice output surged to 149 million tonnes (mt) in 2024-25-a 25% rise compared to 2019-20, as per the third advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry on 30 May. According to global cereal estimates from the US Department of Agriculture, China's production is pegged at 145mt in 2024-25. However, rice productivity in China, at 7.1 tonnes per hectare, is significantly higher than India's 4.3 tonne...