Bihar govt promoting cultivation of aromatic, medicinal plants: Minister

To encourage farmers to diversify from traditional paddy cultivation to commercially viable farming, the Bihar government has come out with several incentives and subsidies for planting aromatic and medicinal plants in the state.

The state agriculture department has come out with several incentives for farmers to promote cultivation of 'lemongrass', 'palmarosa', 'shatavari', 'tulsi', mulberry', 'khas', 'gooseberry', 'bael', 'tamarind', 'jackfruit', and lemon plants.

Bihar Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarvjeet told PTI on Saturday that, "The government is coming out with several incentives and subsidies to farmers to help cultivate aromatic and medicinal plants in the state. The growing health awareness has created a lot of opportunities for innovation in the agriculture sector and the government is helping farmers to exploit this opportunity. This is the time Bihar farmers must opt from traditional paddy cultivation to commercially viable farming".

This scheme will be implemented mainly in Gaya, Jamui, Nawada, East Champaran, Supaul, West Champaran, Saharsa, Khagaria, Vaishali, Kaimur and Rohtash districts because of their specific climatic conditions.

As per the decision, the department has decided to provide Rs 75,000 per hectare grant in aid to the farmers for cultivation of lemongrass, palmarosa, shatavari, tulsi, khas and mulberry. For the cultivation of gooseberry, bael, tamarind, jackfruit and lemon plants, the department will provide Rs 50,000 per hectare grant in aid to farmers.

The agriculture minister said medicinal and aromatic plants and their processing are picking up as new entrepreneurs and young farmers find Bihar a congenial state for the sector.

"Our focus is to create the most appropriate pockets in the state for integrated development, production, post-harvest management, storage and marketing of agricultural products. Besides, efforts are being made to create appropriate infrastructure to achieve higher returns per unit area, like the establishment of modern nursery, improved extension service, cold storage and marketing facility so that proper returns are achieved by the farmers", the minister said.

The state government is encouraging farmers to diversify from traditional rice cultivation to cultivation of commercially important aromatic and medicinal plants, he said, adding our government's motive is to improve the socio-economic status of the farmers, especially the small and marginal farmers.

"Farmer of Gaya will soon become self-sufficient by cultivating lemongrass in the district. Earlier, where opium was cultivated on barren land, now the lemongrass crop is flourishing. Living conditions of farmers of remote areas of Gaya, whose economic condition was not that good, are now improving because of the cultivation of lemongrass", the minister said.