Spices Will be Cultivated in the Gardens of Bihar

• 24 Jun 2022

Why in News?

• Recently, the Bihar government, taking steps to increase the income of the farmers of the state, has planned to cultivate spices in the gardens.

Key Points

• The Department of Agriculture has started work on this to encourage farmers under the Integrated Farming Scheme. The need has been assessed on the basis of actual acreage of vacant land available in the garden.
• The cultivation of spices will start as an experiment this year. For this, Hail, Ginger and Turmeric have been selected. They will now be cultivated in the gardens of 12 districts of the state.
• The districts that have been selected for this scheme are Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, West Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Begusarai, Saharsa, Khagaria and Bhagalpur.
• After planting trees in the gardens, the vacant land will be used for the cultivation of spices. With this, farmers will not only sell the fruits of the garden, but will also be able to trade in spices.
• Under the scheme, the state government will provide technical assistance to the farmers cultivating spices in the garden as well as half the price of seeds and manure.
• It is worth mentioning that on an average, farmers in the state cultivate only two crops throughout the year. In weather-friendly farming, the government has planned to increase it to three crops. At the same time, emphasis is also being laid on integrated agriculture scheme in the cultivation of annual crops. The new plan is a part of this effort.
• Barring fruit orchards like Bananas, only 40 percent of the land in Mango and Litchi orchards is used for planting trees, the remaining 60 percent of the land can be cultivated by crops in which even if there is less sunshine, the production is not affected. Under this, Hail, Ginger and Turmeric have been selected.
• It is noteworthy that the cultivable area in Bihar is much higher than the average in the country. 60 percent of the total land area in the state is used for agriculture. The average in the country is 42 percent. Despite this, the state government wants to increase production by increasing cropping intensity. This is also a unique step to increase the income of the farmers.