West Bengal has been selected for the All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project Award 2015. This is the first time the state will be receiving this award. It was selected by the 51st committee from the Indira Gandhi Krishi Bikash Kendra. Earlier, West Bengal won the Krishi Kamran Puraskar for three consecutive years.

The state has been selected for the award for its achievement in four key areas that include scientific research for seeds. The state government has also bagged the award for the second position for participating in International Agriculture and Horticulture Expo. It was held for three days from July 22 to 24 at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the state horticulture minister had a discussion with representatives from food processing companies in the United States and Malaysia to attract investment in the state. The minister will be visiting the districts from August to review the situation. West Bengal is the leading producer of paddy in the country.

Key points to Note
*Rice (Paddy) is a Kharif crop. Kharif crop is a summer crop or monsoon crop. It is usually sown in the beginning of the first rains of July. Other Kharif crops are Millets (Bajra and Jowar), Cotton, Soyabean, Sugarcane, Turmeric, Moong, Groundnut and Red Chilies.
*The National Rice Research Institute is situated in the city of Cuttack, Odisha. It is a premier national research institutes administered under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

About ICAR
*The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) established all India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project (AICRIP), in 1965.
*The Project was elevated to Directorate of Rice Research in 1975 with an added mandate of research in the thrust areas of irrigated rice.
*The mission of the institute is developing technologies to enhance rice productivity, resource and input use efficiency and profitability of rice cultivation without adversely affecting the environment.