Agricultural scenario
Agriculture is the core of Muzaffarpur’s as well as
Bihar’s economy, employing 77% of the workforce and generating 35% of the state
domestic product.
Agricultural seasons are identified on the basis of
sowing and harvesting of particular crops virtually agriculture season is crop
season. Here four agricultural seasons
have been identified namely Bhadai, Aghani, Rabi and Garma. The Bhadai and
Aghani crops are also known as Kharif crops.
Agriculture being the main occupation of the people,
Rice is the main crop of the district accounting for the major portion of the
grown area sawn. Maize and Wheat Is the next important crop of the district.
Sugarcane, potato and badly are some of the cereal crops grown. The district is
famous for Litchi and Mango which are supplied to other state as well.
However litchi laced with GI tag, and the associate
processed product offers the district advantage over other produce due to its
unique variety shahi-litchi known worldwide.
However the agricultural sector in Muzaffarpur is
plagued with numerous and well known constraints and problems this include:
- Extremely volatile agricultural output mainly due to Socks from regular
monsoon flooding in some parts of the district and periodic drought in others.
- Low productivity average yield of rice and wheat the two most widely
cultivated crops are 20 to 25% less than the average.
- Poorly developed rural roads infrastructure.
- Floods, waterlogging, poor drainage, and inadequate public investments
on expanding and maintaining surface integration systems.
- Access to electricity in limited to only 5% of ruler households compared
to 44% nationally lack of rural electrification is a formidable barrier to both
farm and non-farm development.
- Farmers without access to surface irrigation must rely mainly on desired
rather than electricity to tap groundwater sources which rises production costs
and effects comparativeness.
- Public research and extension services suffer from a variety of familiar
ills Including lack of strategic focus, thin dispersal of available resources,
and inability to effectively utilize available staff due to limited operation
budgets.
- Lack of high quality seeds,, the quality of seeds used in farming is
essential in attaining a higher crop yield.
- One of the major problems faced by farmers is the lack of adequate farm
equipment which can hamper their ability to adapt to the requirement of modern
farming practices.
- Inadequate market linkages, farmers often lack access to reliable and
transport markets, which results in low price for their products.
Horticultural Scenario
Horticulture has emerged as one of the most important agricultural enterprises in Bihar in the last two decades, as
it offers a wide range of opportunities for farmers to diversify their cropping pattern to include fruits, vegetables, flowers,
spices, plantation crops, medicinal and aromatic plants. The increasing diversification
provides opportunities for absorption of labour and earning remunerative
returns to the farmers. The horticultural products form an important component of food and nutritional security in Bihar.
To
meet the growing
demand for affordable and high-quality fruits in local,
national, and international markets, this sector is experiencing substantial competition. Since horticultural crops are highly perishable and seasonal
in nature, they require adequate post-harvest infrastructure. The State Government is promoting horticulture sector in a big way in Muzaffarpur to help the farmers.
Though State
is one of the largest
producers of various
Fruits & Vegetables however due to lack of various post-harvest management infrastructures, there is considerable volume
loss. This is not only commodity loss but also has
considerable impact on farmer/producers of Fruits
&Vegetables who have to make immediate
sale of the produce due to the low shelf life and lack of any storage infrastructures. The key reasons driving the huge volume of wastages are poor post-harvest system, inefficient supply
chains, lack of proper storage and processing infrastructure.
1. Minimizing Loss: The structure would support better handling practices, storage through cold rooms, thus helping
in minimizing the losses.
2. Cost
reduction: The structure would help in minimizing costs of wastages
and other handling costs through promoting value creation and storage.
3.
Value
creation: The structure would promote post-harvest management practices through ensuring proper sorting, grading
and packaging, substantially higher values can be realized
from marketing of processed
commodities.
4. Ensured Quality: The structure will have various units in the form of cold room, waxing, packaging house etc. which would ensure quality of the produce and high shelf-life.
5. Maintains the commodity market
price: The storage
helps in normalizing the price of crops throughout the year through the making available
quality produce during lean period ensuring uninterrupted supply and thereby
minimizing food inflation.
6. Enhanced market linkage: It empowers farmers with the ability to capture a larger buyer base and helps to bring
their harvest to more valuable.
Brief Details
Primary Processing such as-washing, cleaning, sorting, grading, waxing and packing lines is an important component of Pack House.
These components add shelf life to the products and ease the hand ling by
packing into smaller and big packs as required. These systems alone can bring significant reduction
in spoilage. Also, in most cases well-packaged products will
attract better prices.
Production of Fruits &
Vegetables in Muzaffarpur
1. Fruits
a) Mango: Mango constitutes the largest area under fruit cultivation in Muzaffarpur. The key varieties such as - Jardalu Aam, Maldah Aam are some of the famous varieties cultivated in the State.
Jardalu Mango has been GI tagged.
b) Litchi: Bihar is the
leading producer of Litchi in the country contributing almost half the total national production. Muzaffarpur is the largest Litchi producing district followed by Vaishali, Sitamarhi, East Champaran
and Madhubani.
c) Banana: Banana is the third largest growing fruits in State in terms of area and cultivated in an area of 0.34 lakh Ha with a production of 13.68 lakh tons. It constitutes an area of 10.8% under fruits and 32.2% of total fruit production. Katihar, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Vaishali and Darbhanga are top five producing regions of Banana in
addition to other districts.
d) Guava: Guava is cultivated in area of 0.29 lakh Ha with a total
production of 4.34 lakh tons constituting about 9.2% and 10.2% to the total area and production of fruits in Bihar. Nalanda,
Muzaffarpur, Patna, Rohtas and Vaishali are top five producing districts of guava in the State.
2. Vegetables
a) Potato: Bihar is one of the leading producers of potato in the country and the crop constitutes largest area and production among all other vegetables. Patna, Nalanda, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Katihar, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, East and West Champaran, Nalanda, Purnia, Rohtas, Samastipur, Sitamarhi and Vaishali are top 15 producing districts of potato in the State.
b) Brinjal: Though brinjal is cultivated across the State among all districts- Vaishali, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Begusarai and Darbhanga are major cultivating regions of brinjal in State.
c) Tomato: Tomato is cultivated in an area of 0.52 lakh Ha with a total production of 9.64 lakh tons,
which constitutes about
6.3% and 5.9% of the total area and production of vegetables in State. Patna,
Vaishali, Begusarai, Nalanda and Muzaffarpur are major production regions of
tomato in the State.
d)
Bottle
Guard: The
total area under bottle guard cultivation in the State was 0.44 lakh Ha with a
total production of 6.61 lakh tons which constitute about 5.3% and 4% of total area and production under vegetable in State. Vaishali,
Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, West Champaran and Katihar are the major producing
districts of bottle guard in State.
