Patna: Maize production in Bihar has witnessed 66.6% upsurge between 2020-21 and 2023-24, thanks to burgeoning demand for it by various industries, according to the Bihar Economic Survey (2024-25) tabled on the floor of the state legislature on Friday.
The survey report pointed out that production of maize had grown to 5.86 million tonne in the year 2023-24 from 3.52 million in the year 2020-21. Agricultural experts attributed the huge interest among farmers to cultivate maize owing to its demand in ethanol production for blending with petrol.
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Bihar has been one of the leading producers of maize in the country with Karnataka being the only competitor in the country. Officials of the state agriculture department said that farmers are being encouraged to produce maize as a feedstock for ethanol plants and thereby get higher returns.
In conformity to the Central government’s policy to utilise maize and rice as feedstock for ethanol production, the agriculture department has actively pursued farm mechanisation and distribution of high-yield variety seeds among the farmers to boost maize productivity. “This shift towards maize cultivation for ethanol is creating new economic opportunities for farmers and generating local employment in the state,” said a senior officer.
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Rice and wheat production also go up
As per the survey, rice and wheat production have increased by 21% and 10.7% respectively between 2022-23 and 2023-24. In the horticulture sector, total mango production has increased by 9.7% between 2022-23 and 2023-24. The area under litchi has been continuously expanding in Bihar. Between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the area of litchi orchards has increased by 6%, whereas the total production has gone up by 11.7% .
Bihar produces 85% Makhana in the country
Bihar remained on the top of makhana production in the year 2023-24 and accounted for 85% of the total yield in the country. Makhand was cultivated on 27.8 thousand hectares of land and total production was 56.4 thousand tonnes. Likewise production of milk, eggs and fish has been rising continuously.
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₹11,900 lakh spent on farm mechanisation
The state government has approved ₹11,900.00 lakh for agricultural mechanisation in 2023-24. For the Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization, the Government of India allocated ₹3866.23 lakh (60%) and the state government ₹2577.48 lakh (40%) of the total allocation.
Agriculture sector has increased by 17.6%
Talking to reporters, deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary said that the share of power consumption in the agriculture sector has increased from 4.3% in the year 2019-20 to 17.6% in 2023-24. “The access to the KCC scheme in the state has expanded over the years. The total disbursement of KCC loans in 2019-20 was ₹3204.51 crore, which has increased to ₹7080.07 crore in the year 2023-24,” added the Dy CM.
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2377 schemes sanctioned under Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali mission
In its bid to ensure proper irrigation to every farm, the state government has sanctioned as many as 2,377 schemes till the year 2023-24 under Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali mission. Of the total 2,182 schemes have been completed, restoring 2,22,639 hectares of irrigation capacity and 992 cubic meters of water storage. The state government has spent ₹269.66 crore on these schemes in 2023-24, said the survey report.
