The rice sector today faces mounting environmental and economic challenges, including rapid groundwater depletion, escalating input costs, crop residue burning, and increasing climate variability. Given India’s dominant position in global rice production and trade, domestic policy decisions related to rice cultivation, procurement, subsidies, and exports have important implications for international food security and market stability. Consequently, there is an urgent need to realign rice-sector policies with sustainability and climate objectives. This requires evidence-based reforms to promote resource-efficient, climate-resilient production systems while safeguarding farmer incomes and national food security. Within this context, Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) systems. The study will adopt a mixed-methods approach that combines primary field demonstration and capacity-building activities, stakeholder surveys, consultations, and policy analysis to generate evidence- based recommendations for scaling up DSR in India. The project will focus on Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, two important rice-growing states that represent different levels of DSR adoption and institutional support.
