Growing Paddy (Rice) in Uttar Pradesh

Updated 2026-07-13 · Region guide

Uttar Pradesh sits in the Upper Gangetic Plains with sub-humid, hot summers and fertile alluvium. India's largest sugarcane state, on deep Gangetic alluvium. Here's how paddy (rice) — a Kharif (monsoon) crop — fits, and how to grow it well here.

Is Uttar Pradesh good for growing paddy (rice)?

When to sow paddy (rice) in Uttar Pradesh

Sow in nursery Jun, transplant Jul and harvest around Oct–Nov. The crop takes about 120–160 days. In Uttar Pradesh's sub-humid, hot summers, the window matters more than anything else you do: ~800 mm rainfall and canal + tubewell mean a late Kharif (monsoon) sowing runs paddy (rice) into the wrong weather at its most sensitive stage.

Where paddy (rice) actually grows in Uttar Pradesh

The tarai belt - Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Sitapur, Rampur and Bijnor - gets the best yields on a high water table. Eastern UP (Gorakhpur, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Ballia, Mau, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Varanasi) is the volume. Western UP - Meerut, Bulandshahr, Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Baghpat - sits inside the GI basmati zone and grows a completely different crop for a completely different buyer.

Where it is sold: UP has real APMC yards - Chandauli, Gorakhpur, Lakhimpur, Pilibhit, Bahraich and Hapur. For common paddy you must register on the Food Department's e-procurement portal (fcs.up.gov.in) with your land records before you can sell to a centre run by PCF, PCU or UPSS; without the khatauni on the portal there is no MSP for you. Coverage is thin in the east, so a lot of paddy goes to local millers under MSP. Western UP basmati is a separate market entirely - no MSP, sold to exporters and mills, priced by export demand.

The local risk to plan for: UP's paddy risk is mostly a wheat risk. A long-duration variety plus a late harvest pushes wheat sowing into December, and the wheat crop is where the money actually leaks - you lose more in March on the wheat than you gained in October on the rice. On top of that, eastern UP depends on an erratic monsoon with thin procurement behind it, and western UP now faces stubble-burning penalties in the NCR airshed.

Best paddy (rice) varieties for Uttar Pradesh

Grown in Uttar Pradesh:

• Swarna (MTU-7029) - dominant in the east
• Sarju-52 (NDUAT)
• Narendra-359 (NDUAT)
• Swarna-Sub1 for flood-prone eastern land
• Pusa Basmati 1121 and 1509 in the western GI belt

Confirm the variety is notified for Uttar Pradesh — on fertile alluvium under canal + tubewell, a variety bred for a different zone will underperform whatever the seed packet claims. Your Uttar Pradesh KVK or agriculture officer holds the current shortlist.

Typical yield & price

Typical yield here is around 20–26 quintal/acre. The government MSP is ₹2,183/quintal; local mandi rates vary, so check YieldAI for today's live Uttar Pradesh price.

Common problems in Uttar Pradesh

The pests and diseases to scout for:

• khaira (zinc deficiency) - the tarai classic, showing as bronzing two to three weeks after transplant on high-pH alluvium
• stem borer
• brown and white-backed planthopper
• bacterial leaf blight in the flooded east
• false smut and gall midge in eastern UP

sub-humid conditions shape which of these bite hardest each season — scout early and act while a problem is small. YieldAI can identify a pest or disease from a photo of your crop.

Key practices

• Register on fcs.up.gov.in with your khatauni before the season - no registration, no MSP, and this is where most eastern UP farmers fall out of the system
• Fix zinc before it costs you: khaira is a deficiency, not a disease, and a soil test plus zinc at puddling prevents the bronzing - take the rate from your KVK
• On flood-prone eastern UP land, use Swarna-Sub1
• Choose a duration that gets paddy off by late October so wheat goes in by mid-November - treat the variety choice as a wheat decision
• In western UP, manage residue rather than burning it; the NCR airshed rules are enforced