Cropping pattern in Bihar

Abstract

Bihar has a total geographical area of 93.60 lakh hectares on which it houses a population of 82.9 million, thereby generating a population density of 880 persons per sq. km (Census 2001). Gross sown area in the State is 79.46 lakh hectares, while net sown area is 56.03 lakh hectares. There are around 1.04 crore landholdings in the State of which around 83 percent are marginal holdings of size less than 1 hectare (Table 1). With around 90 percent of the total population living in rural areas, agriculture as the primary feeder of rural economy continues to operate not only on margins of land but also on the margins of human enterprise, its productivity being among the lowest in the country. Without increasing returns to these margins, not much can be done realistically to develop the agricultural sector. Thus, agriculture continues to define both the potentialities and constraints to development in Bihar.