Ranchi-based Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) was constituted in 1981 to conduct fundamental, need-based and area specific research in agriculture and allied sciences and to develop and promote modern agricultural technology among rural people through extension programmes and need-based trainings.
Jharkhand is an agrarian state and its 80 per cent of population lives off agriculture and allied sectors such as animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry and so on but only 23 per cent of its total area is arable and 9 per cent of it is irrigated.
The sources said that average annual rainfall in Jharkhand is 1,200 mm of which 90 to 95 per cent is untapped and as such utilisation of surface water for irrigation was minimal. More than three-fourth of Jharkhand's population are involed in rain-fed agriculture. Due to low productivity in foodgrains, fish, forestry and livestock, the state is not self-sufficient with regard to food, milk & milk products, meat, fish, vegetables and fruits.
In 2004-06, production of foodgrains and fish was 1,077 and 900 kg/hectare against the national average of 1,716 and 2,150 kg/hectare respectively. Production of forestry & logging and fishing also reduced by 37 and 59 per cent respectively in 2005-06 from 2001-02. Compared to 1997, the cattle population declined by 20 per cent in 2006, the sources pointed out. The BAU has failed to fulfill the needs of the people. The BAU could not develop any variety of seeds or new technology for dry-land agriculture, suitable for Jharkhand.