China scores high on the front of organic matter recycling and developing hybrid varieties of rice. Zheng Jiaguo, professor at the Crop Research Institute at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sichuan, China, says, "We have increased the rice yield by cultivating hybrid varieties. India should also look to increase the acreage under hybrid rice cultivation.'

The area under hybrid cultivation in India is a meagre 150,000 hectares, which is less than 0.5 per cent of land cultivated for rice. China has close to 15 million hectare under hybrid rice cultivation. Zheng says, "India should develop hybrid rice suitable for its soil. As far as availability organic matter is concerned, both the countries are placed at same level.' Valuable lessons for India .