**Abstract**

Being an amazing picturesque of land, the North Eastern Hill Region of India, consisting of more than 200 ethnic groups, has only about 2.27% of the total rice area and shares only 1.96% of the total rice production in the country. Whether profitable or not, the rice cultivation is a way of life for the people of North Eastern Hill Region of India. Till today, the production and productivity of rice in this region is below the national average because of its fragile ecosystem and the varied physio-graphic conditions pertaining to this region. Neither the wider recommendation of agricultural technology such as variety nor the use of a single technology or variety can solve this problem of low yield. However, the development of location specific high yielding rice variety using the existing land races prevalent in the area can be one of the promising technique for improving the production and productivity of rice cultivation in this region.

**Keywords:** Rice, North Eastern Hill region, India, Rice Improvement, Fragile ecosystem
