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Patna,(BiharTimes): Agriculture minister Narendra Singh conceded in the Bihar Assembly that rice production is likely to see a huge fall in Bihar in the recently concluded season. However, he assured the House that attempts are being made to compensate this loss by increasing the production of pulses and oilseeds. |
Replying to the question of Akhtar-ul-Iman (RJD) during the Question Hour on Thursday the minister said that against the target of 74 lakh metric tonnes the state is likely to produce 29 lakh tonnes of rice. He attributed this big fall to the drought in most parts of Bihar.
In his supplementary question Akhtar-ul-Iman asked as to what is the compensation the state government is giving to the rice farmers and what measures have been taken to overcome the problems caused by drought.
Narendra Singh said that the government has taken the question of the member quite seriously and added that the state government gave subsidy on diesel to the farmers. He said that drought is a natural calamity like floods, earthquake etc and the state needs support to fight it.
He did not accept the RJD MLA’s contention that this huge fall in production is responsible for the sharp fall in the price of rice in the state. Instead the minister blamed the Centre for the food inflation all over the country.
Narendra Singh said that Bihar needs only 25 lakh metric tonnes of rice to feed the entire population, thus there is no need to be panicky.
The RJD MLA then asked what steps have the state government taken to check blackmarketing by hoarders. He also said that diesel was distributed to farmers only after the paddy season was over and added that the state government is doing nothing to check the smuggling of fertilizer to Nepal.
Upon this the minister assured that the state government would provide all the details later on.
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