Krishnanand Singh's smile grows wider when he pulls out the fishing net from a small tank built on a piece of his farmland.

The resident of Bhadwas village of Mahua block in Vaishali district, around 40km north of Patna, Krishnanand said he would keep two fish for the family and sell the rest to a fish dealer in Hajipur. His pond spread over two cottahs and pisciculture was facilitated through loan from a branch of Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank.

Krishnanand is just one of the several thousand of farmers across Bihar who have received agriculture term loan from regional rural banks - courtesy the push provided by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) in this sector.

Such is the push by Nabard that regional rural banks here disbursed Rs 3,182 crore agri term loan during the first three quarters of 2015-16 financial year, the most by regional rural banks across all states and Union Territories.

It is around 113 per cent of their annual target of Rs 2,800 crore under the head, and the quantum is set to increase further by the end of the fiscal.

In comparison to Bihar, Andhra Pradesh is at a distant second with regional rural banks there disbursing Rs 1,955 crore and Tamil Nadu at third place with Rs 1,509 crore.

Nabard Bihar regional office chief general manager Ranjit Kumar Das said: "The growth is a good sign for development of agriculture in Bihar."