Bihar Agriculture, Crops and Makhana: Exam Notes

Agriculture is the occupation of the greater part of the people of Bihar, and the state owes it to the Ganga plain: deep alluvial soil, plenty of groundwater and a reliable monsoon. Bihar is best known in exams for three things, the crops of its three farming seasons, the fruit and grain that carry geographical indication tags, and makhana, the water crop of the Mithila ponds of which Bihar grows almost all of the Indian output. These notes take the crops belt by belt, then treat makhana in detail, and close with the institutions and the irrigation works that papers ask about.

Soils, seasons and the agro-climatic zones

The soil of the state is Gangetic alluvium, newer khadar along the rivers and older bhangar away from them, with a few special tracts: the tal land of Patna, Nalanda and Bhojpur, low saucers that hold water in the rains and carry a fine rabi crop of gram and lentil; the diara land of the river beds, used for melons, cucumber and vegetables; and the chaur, the permanent shallow depressions of north Bihar where makhana and fish are raised together. Bihar is divided into three agro-climatic zones, the north-west alluvial plain, the north-east alluvial plain and the south Bihar alluvial plain, the last subdivided for planning. Kharif brings rice, maize, arhar and jute; rabi brings wheat, maize, gram, lentil, pea, mustard and potato; the zaid season brings moong, urad and summer vegetables.

The crop belts of Bihar

Rice has the largest area of any crop in the state and is grown across the plain, with the Kosi and Seemanchal districts and the Magadh region as the main tracts. Wheat follows it in rabi over much the same land. Maize is the crop in which Bihar stands out, grown in kharif and again as a high yielding rabi crop in the Kosi belt, with Khagaria, Begusarai, Samastipur and Purnia as the core of the maize zone. Sugarcane belongs to the Champaran belt, West and East Champaran with Gopalganj and Siwan, where the old indigo and sugar factories once stood. Jute grows in the north-east, in Purnia, Katihar, Araria and Kishanganj, where the state ranks next after West Bengal. Pulses come from the tal lands of south Bihar and from Mokama Tal. Tobacco is grown in Samastipur, Vaishali and Muzaffarpur. The fruit belts are the most quoted of all: Muzaffarpur for the Shahi litchi, Bhagalpur for the Zardalu mango and Katarni rice, Gaya and Nawada for Magahi paan, Hajipur for banana and West Champaran for Marcha rice.

Makhana, the crop of the Mithila ponds

Makhana, the fox nut or gorgon nut, is the seed of the aquatic plant Euryale ferox, grown in ponds, chaurs and waterlogged fields and popped over heat into the white lava that reaches the market. Bihar grows the overwhelming share of the Indian crop, chiefly in Darbhanga, Madhubani, Purnia, Katihar, Saharsa, Supaul, Sitamarhi, Araria and Kishanganj, which is why the crop is known as Mithila makhana. Its production is labour intensive: the seeds are collected from the pond bed, dried, graded, roasted and then popped by hand. A geographical indication tag was granted to Mithila Makhana in 2022, and research on the crop is carried out at the makhana research centre at Darbhanga, where improved varieties such as Swarna Vaidehi have been developed. Makhana is valued as a fasting food, is rich in protein and low in fat, and the same pond can carry fish along with the crop, which doubles the income from waterlogged land that grows nothing else.

Geographical indications and institutions

• Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University is at Pusa in Samastipur; Bihar Agricultural University is at Sabour in Bhagalpur.
• The ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region is at Patna, the National Research Centre on Litchi at Muzaffarpur and the makhana research centre at Darbhanga.
• Irrigation rests on the Sone canal system, the oldest in the state, taken from the Sone at Dehri, along with the Gandak and Kosi projects and tubewells in the north.
• The state runs its farm programme through successive Agriculture Road Maps, and milk is marketed through the Sudha brand of its dairy federation.
• Cattle and goat breeds of the state include Bachaur cattle of Sitamarhi and the Black Bengal goat of the eastern districts.