Suppose China's production remains more or less constant from 2004 to 2006. Suppose India is able to sustain the same percent increase in both of those years. By what percent would India's rice production have to increase from 2004 to 2005 and again from 2005 to 2006 so that it equaled China in rice production in 2006?

Answer: India's rice production would increase by 12.8%

Explanation:

Note that India's production in 2004 is approximately 88,000,000 tons and this is the starting value.

China's production is approximately 112,000,000.

If y is the annual percentage increase, written as a decimal, then the multiplier for a y percent increase is

(1 + y).

India's value of 88 million tonnes must be multiplied by this multiplier twice in order to equal China's output.

Therefore:

y = 0.128 = 12.8%.