Patna: Bihar's third agriculture roadmap, which President Ram Nath Kovind released on Thursday, outlines expenditure of Rs 1.54 lakh crore over a period of five years (2017-22) by a dozen government departments which, in turn, would help growth of the farm sector.

A major goal of the document is developing Bihar as a hub of organic farming. At present Sikkim is the only organic state in India, a tag it got in 2016. Two major components of the roadmap's aim of promoting organic farming - development of an organic corridor and providing input subsidy to farmers in advance - were launched on Thursday.

The organic corridor scheme, for areas along both banks of the Ganga and also along the highways, aims at ensuring organic farming in 1.57 lakh acres of land: 2,000 acres in 2017-18, 2,5000 acres in 2018-19, 3,5000 acres in 2019-20, 4,5000 acres in 2020-21 and 50,000 acres in 2021-22.

Those opting for organic farming would get input subsidy in advance in the form of improved seeds, organic fertilisers and organic pesticides.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar seemed confident about the organic push and said on Thursday at the roadmap launch event that many farmers in Bihar had started organic farming on their own.

He recalled the visit of Nobel laureate Joseph Eugene Stiglitz to the state in 2013 and how while visiting a village near the ruins of the ancient Nalanda University, the American economist had been impressed by the organic farming a local farmer was doing. The roadmap emphasises setting up of cooperatives of vegetable growers for proper marketing produce, and the scheme was started on Thursday.

To provide regular and quality power to farmers, the roadmap outlines separate agriculture feeders to be set up. The pilot project for it was launched in Naubatpur block of Patna district on Thursday.

The roadmap also talks of ushering in a "rainbow revolution" in the state and emphasises on improving the production of dairy products, meat and fish, and eggs. The government will set up a fisheries college in Kishanganj, the first such college in the state, which would have 40 seats for pursuing a graduate-level course in fisheries.

The roadmap aims to bring an additional 8 lakh hectares under irrigation cover, pushes to minimise land disputes by updating land records using modern techniques, and talks of providing all-weather road connectivity to villages and bringing more areas under green cover.