Land on lease will be given for higher production of seeds in Bihar: Minister

The new scheme is aimed to increase seed production for higher farm production, under the soon-to-be-launched fourth edition of the agricultural roadmap from April this year, officials

The Bihar government is planning to launch a scheme under which agricultural land on lease would be provided to private agencies under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode for setting up seed production units.

Bihar agricultural minister said the government would unveil the scheme under the fourth agricultural roadmap (Representative Photo)

The new scheme is aimed to increase seed production for higher farm production, under the soon-to-be-launched fourth edition of the agricultural roadmap from April this year, officials said.

“We will provide land on lease to interested firms under PPP mode for the production of seeds for different foodgrains. The government would buy 50% of the produced seeds from the firms as rent for the leased land,” said state agriculture minister Kumar Sarvjeet.

The minister said the government would unveil the scheme under the fourth agricultural roadmap. “We will also provide subsidy in purchasing storage equipment so that they can set up the plants easily,” said the minister, adding, rules are being formed for the scheme. He said the scheme will give a boost to the farm sector in the state.

Officials said that the state agriculture department has been distributing subsidised seeds to registered farmers and its initiative of providing seeds to farmers at the doorstep has evoked a positive response from the farmers, especially during the Kharif season during the pandemic time.

The seed production budget has also witnessed a quantum rise in the last few years for higher productivity of seeds of different foodgrains and increase foodgrains production, officials said.

The rice production in 2022-23 is expected to be would be around 60-62 lakh metric tonnes although final records are still awaited. According to the officials, the wheat production this year is expected to be around 70 lakh metric tonnes, almost four lakh tonnes higher than it was in 2021-22.