New Delhi: India has recently moved past China to become the world’s largest rice producer, a milestone celebrated by policymakers as proof of strong farm output and decades of food security planning. Rice exports have surged alongside production, nearly doubling over the last ten years and exceeding 20 million tonnes in the most recent fiscal year.
Behind this headline achievement, however, a more troubling reality is unfolding in the country’s main rice-growing belt. In Punjab and Haryana, two states that anchor India’s rice supply, many farmers say the cost of producing the crop is rising sharply while natural resources are being pushed to the brink.
The core issue is water. Rice is one of the most water-intensive crops, and in northern India it relies heavily on groundwater rather than canals or reservoirs. Farmers and agricultural experts say underground water levels have dropped dramatically over the past decade. Wells that once struck water at shallow depths now need to be drilled several times deeper, significantly increasing expenses.
A decade ago, water could often be reached at around 30 feet in many parts of Punjab and Haryana. Today, farmers report drilling as deep as 80 to 200 feet. Government data and studies by agricultural universities back up these claims, showing a rapid decline in aquifers, especially over the past five years.
“Each season we have to go deeper,” said Balkar Singh, a farmer from Haryana. “The cost of farming rice keeps going up, but we don’t have many alternatives.”
Subsidies play a major role in locking farmers into rice cultivation. Guaranteed minimum prices for rice, which have risen sharply over the past decade, provide income security. At the same time, heavily subsidised electricity makes it cheaper to run pumps that extract groundwater. Together, these policies encourage farmers to keep growing rice even as water becomes scarcer.
Experts warn that this creates a paradox: a water-stressed country is effectively rewarding the use of a crop that consumes enormous quantities of groundwater. Producing just one kilogram of rice can require 3,000 to 4,000 litres of water in India—far higher than the global average.
The consequences are most severe for smaller farmers. Large landholders are often able to absorb the costs of deeper borewells and more powerful pumps. Marginal and small farmers, by contrast, struggle to cope as every additional expense eats into already thin margins.
Sukhwinder Singh, a 76-year-old farmer from Punjab, said he spent tens of thousands of rupees last summer simply to keep his borewell functional. “If expenses continue to rise like this, rice farming will stop making sense,” he said.
Despite two consecutive years of good monsoon rainfall, groundwater extraction has outpaced natural recharge. Official classifications now label large parts of Punjab and Haryana as “critical” or “over-exploited.” In response, authorities have restricted new borewells in the worst-affected areas, but this has done little to reduce dependence on existing wells.
The issue also has global implications. India supplies around 40% of the world’s rice exports, meaning any shift in its production patterns could affect international markets. Moreover, India already produces more rice than it needs to feed its own population, which became the world’s largest in 2023.
This has led economists and policymakers to question whether the country should continue prioritising rice at current levels. Some state governments have begun experimenting with alternatives. Haryana, for instance, introduced a subsidy to encourage farmers to grow millets and other less water-intensive crops. These grains are increasingly popular in cities due to their nutritional value.
So far, such efforts have had limited impact. The incentives are typically offered for only a single season, which farmers say is not enough to justify a long-term shift away from rice. Agricultural economists argue that sustained support over several years is necessary to change cropping patterns.
There is also a fiscal argument for reform. Punjab spends tens of thousands of rupees per hectare on fertiliser and power subsidies for rice. Redirecting a large portion of that support toward alternative crops could protect farmer incomes while reducing pressure on groundwater, experts say.
Many farmers say they are open to change, provided the government guarantees fair prices for new crops. “Our land is productive, and we can grow other crops,” said Gurmeet Singh, a rice farmer from Punjab. “But we need assurance that the government will buy what we produce.”
For now, India’s record rice output stands in contrast to the mounting environmental and economic stress in its farming heartland—a reminder that agricultural success, measured in tonnage alone, can hide deeper challenges beneath the surface.
