Bihar Quiz: Agriculture, Crops and Makhana

Makhana is the seed of Euryale ferox, a thorny aquatic plant of still shallow water whose large round leaves cover the surface of ponds and chaurs; the seeds are gathered from the pond bed, dried, roasted and popped into the white kernels sold as makhana or phool makhana.

Mithila Makhana was registered as a geographical indication in 2022, the tag going to a producers body of the Mithila region so that growers of Darbhanga, Madhubani and the neighbouring districts, rather than traders elsewhere, gain from the name.

The makhana research centre is at Darbhanga, in the heart of the Mithila makhana belt, and work there covers pond management, the harvesting and popping process and improved varieties such as Swarna Vaidehi.

Cotton is a kharif crop, sown with the onset of the monsoon in June and July and picked from October onwards, because it needs warmth and rainfall during growth and dry weather at picking.

The Shahi litchi of Muzaffarpur and the neighbouring districts of north Bihar is known for its thin skin, small stone and high juice content, it received a geographical indication tag in 2018, and Muzaffarpur is called the litchi capital of the country and houses the National Research Centre on Litchi.

Magahi paan takes its name from the Magadh region and is grown in Gaya, Nawada, Aurangabad and Nalanda, where the soft leaf with its sweet taste and lack of sharpness has made it famous; it carries a geographical indication tag of its own.

The tal lands are low saucer shaped tracts of south Bihar that fill with water during the monsoon and cannot carry a kharif crop; as the water drains in October and November the moist soil gives an excellent rabi crop of gram, lentil, pea and khesari, and Mokama Tal is…

West Bengal grows far more jute than any other state, and Bihar comes next, its crop concentrated in the north-eastern districts of Purnia, Katihar, Araria and Kishanganj, where high rainfall, standing water for retting and alluvial soil suit the fibre.

The Sone canal system takes off at Dehri in Rohtas district, where a weir across the Sone feeds the eastern and western main canals that water Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Patna and Bhojpur; it is the oldest major canal work of the state and the mainstay of irrigation in south Bihar.

Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University stands at Pusa in Samastipur district, on the campus where the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute was founded before it moved to New Delhi, and it was given the status of a central agricultural university in 2016.