President Kovind to unveil Bihar’s 3rd agriculture road map on November 9

To be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.54 lakh crore, the latest roadmap (2017-22) seeks to enhance farmers’ income substantially by encouraging change in cropping pattern and better usage of technology.

President Ram Nath Kovind will unveil the third phase of Bihar’s agricultural road map at a function here on November 9.

PTI file photo

To be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.54 lakh crore in five years, the latest roadmap (2017-22) seeks to enhance farmers’ income substantially by encouraging change in cropping pattern, boosting usage of technology to cut down on input cost, bettering coverage of irrigational network, promoting organic farming and arranging suitable markets and processing units for better return from the produce.

Agriculture minister Prem Kumar said different components of the roadmap would be executed by 13 different departments, including water resources, animal husbandry and cooperative departments. He said the cabinet has already cleared the plan and the modalities for its execution.

Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh has convened a high-level meeting of officials of the departments concerned and the police headquarters to review the status of latest version of agriculture roadmap and preparations for the President’s visit.

This will be the first visit of Kovind as head of the Indian state. He was earlier governor of Bihar until he was nominated by the BJP-led NDA as its candidate for the post of President, the election for which was held in July this year.

The first agriculture roadmap was released by the chief minister in 2012 when he led an NDA government. The plan, costing about Rs 1.52 crore, was launched as the first step to pave the way for a rainbow revolution in the state in the next five years (2012-17).

Agriculture minister Prem Kumar claimed that agricultural and vegetable production in the state increased substantially due to the rolling out of the roadmap in the last 10 years.

Kovind is also likely to visit Patna again in December or January next year to attend the valedictory function of the Patna University’s centenary celebrations, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 14.