The Bihar Government will set up 14 committees to address the needs of the agriculture sector. This was decided in the first meeting of the special Cabinet meeting on agriculture held here on Tuesday.

The committees will look into issues such as water, cooperatives, agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, disaster management, soil conservation, research, biotech, information technology and market storage and processing, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Mr A K Sinha, told newspersons after the meeting.

He said the respective heads of departments concerned would be members of the committees and will submit reports to the state Cabinet coordination secretariat for follow-up action.

Chaired by the Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, the Cabinet meeting was attended by the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr S.K. Modi, besides 17 Ministers of different departments.

The Chief Minister's Agriculture Adviser, Mr Mangala Rai, former Director General of Indian Council of Agriculture Research, a special invitee to this cabinet, Agriculture Commission Chairman Mr Ramadhar Singh, state Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Mr Harikishan Singh also attended the meeting.

“It is a historic Cabinet meeting and beginning of turnaround in state's agriculture,” State Agriculture Minister Mr Narendra Singh said. The next meeting of the cabinet on agriculture would take place on June 15.

Bihar has accorded agriculture the highest priority and has increased its budgetary allocation during 2011-12.

The government has already prepared an agriculture roadmap in 2008 and decided to give full budgetary support for achieving Mr Nitish Kumar's dream of a rainbow revolution.

According to official data, against the national productivity average of 2 tonnes of rice per hectare, Bihar's rice productivity is about 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

In case of wheat, the state's productivity is 2.2 tonnes per hectare against the national average of 2.7 tonnes.

“Barring maize and pulses, productivity of various farm produce in Bihar is much below the national average. Though the area under cultivation is shrinking, there is tremendous scope for income generation, by improving productivity,” Mr Sinha said.

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