*1.1. Extent and Impact of Flooding on Rice Production*

Rice production in rain-fed low lands is often severely affected as the crop at different growing stages suffers from various stresses, such as limited gas diffusion, effusion of soil nutrients, mechanical damage, increased susceptibility to pests and diseases and stresses due to low-light due to flooding (also called as submergence) or water-logging [10,11]. The frequent flooding during rice cultivation (which occurs during the monsoon months) in rain-fed lowland areas of South Asia leads to a complete submergence of the rice crop for approximately 10–15 days. While rice has some adaptive traits for tolerance to submergence, the low-land rice cultivars used in South Asian countries are still sensitive to complete submergence [12]. In India, the Indo-Gangetic River basin, which is a favourable belt for rice cultivation, is also the most flood-affected region in India. Moreover, around 30% of the total rice growing area, which amounts to 12–14 million ha is prone to flash flooding with an average productivity of only 0.5–0.8 tonnes per ha as compared to 2 tonnes per ha in favourable lowlands [13]. With a high incidence and severity of floods, small and poor farmers incur heavy economic losses. Figure 1 shows the average agriculture area (in hectare) affected by floods in 17 major Indian States. It can be seen from Figure 1 that Bihar is the worst flood hit state in India followed by Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assamall situated in the Indo-Gangetic plains, i.e., each has one of the two major rivers (or its tributaries) of Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers flowing from the Himalayas. In Bihar, nearly 73% of the total geographical area and 76% of its total population are constantly under the threat of flood [14]. Almost every year, there is severe flooding in the state of Bihar which causes loss to lives, properties and livelihood [15]. With the onset of the monsoon, the rivers originating from Himalayas flow down with massive force, causing rivers such as *Koshi* and *Ganges* to rise above the danger level, which leads to severe floods in northern parts of Bihar.

In Figure 2, the graph plots the state-wise five-year average rice production in India. It can be seen that West Bengal produces around 15,000 tonnes of rice on average per year, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Comparing this with the agricultural flooding, it can be seen that states which experience high levels of flooding are also amongst the top producers of rice, except Bihar. For instance, the eastern state of West Bengal ranks first in rice area and production in the country. However, around 30% of the rice growing area in this state comes under the rain-fed lowlands which suffer from frequent flash floods due to unpredictable rainfall during the major rice growing season (*kharif*), leading to a drastic reduction in yield [13,16].

**Figure 1.** Average flood affected agricultural areas between 2000 to 2018 for the 17 Indian States in India. Source: IWMI.

**Figure 2.** State-wise average rice production in India, 2010–2015. Source: Author's elaborations using data from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, India.
