Patna, April 26: The state will become a model of development for the agriculture sector, which would not only be an example for India, but for any country with similar climatic conditions.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar shared the state’s vision while speaking at the first meeting of the “agriculture cabinet” held today.

Chaired by the chief minister and attended by ministers and senior officials of 17 departments, the first meeting of the agriculture cabinet lasted for more than four hours.

Giving details of the meeting, agriculture department principal secretary Ashok Kumar Sinha said: “The chief minister was of the view that agriculture is the core competence of the state and without developing this sector, Bihar cannot develop. He also said the second green revolution would start from Bihar and that the state would play a major role in it.”

Bihar is probably the first state in the country which has a separate agriculture cabinet in place.

Nitish’s address at the inaugural meet was followed by a presentation made by Mangala Rai, the chief minister’s advisor for agriculture, in which he gave a broad outline of the agriculture sector of Bihar and also dwelt on the challenges facing it and which need to be addressed on a priority basis.

Rai, who earlier held the post of director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, also replied to questions asked by ministers after the presentation.

“One of the major challenges before Bihar is to enhance productivity. The state intends to achieve the productivity level of different crops to the level of those states which are at the top at present,” said Sinha.

Citing an example, he said in the case of paddy production, the productivity in Bihar stands at 15 quintal per hectare whereas in Punjab, the paddy productivity level is 32 quintal per hectare. “Bihar aims to achieve this productivity level in the case of paddy production and not the national average, which stands at 22 quintal per hectare. The same applies in case of other crops,” Sinha added.

Followed by the interactive session, the agriculture cabinet deliberated on the steps needed to be taken for the comprehensive development of the farming sector and it was decided that 14 committees, which would deal with sectors that are linked to the development of the agriculture sector, would be set up for this purpose.

These committees, which would have secretaries of the departments concerned, have to submit their reports before June 15, the date for the second meeting of the cabinet.