Bihar Became the First Indian State to Set up Agriculture Cabinet

Bihar state government at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Agriculture in Patna on 26 April 2011announced the formation of Agriculture cabinet. Bihar became the first state in India to constitute an Agriculture cabinet to address the problems faced by the farmers. The agriculture cabinet in Bihar would be headed by its Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The cabinet includes Ministers from 18 departments comprising irrigation, rural works, animal husbandry, energy, water resources.

The agriculture in Bihar is severely hit by two successive droughts recently. In addition to droughts, floods have also done a severe damage to the state of agriculture in state. The Kosi flood in the year 2008 ravaged north-eastern Bihar. 

 
The state government also issued directives for constitution of different committees. These committees would address various problems from information technology to soil conservation. The Agriculture committee would also focus on the needs of farmers such as seed procurement and electricity. The ancillary committees dealing with research and education, bio-technology, ecology, disaster management and road connectivity would support the agriculture committee.

The Agriculture committee would also monitor the Krishi Road Map, a scheme formulated by the Bihar state government in February 2008 to support agriculture in Bihar. The government has allotted 848 crore for 2011-12 for several farmer-supporting schemes under the Krishi Road Map.

Bihar has given topmost priority to the agriculture sector and enhanced its budgetry allocation from 25 crore rupees to 844 crore rupees in 2011-12.