Dedicated market for biofarm vegetables in Begusarai soon

BEGUSARAI: The residents of Begusarai town could hope to get fresh biofarm vegetables very soon.
District agriculture officer Rajesh Pratap Singh said a dedicated market will soon be started at the newly established wholesale vegetable market in Khatopur for the farmers to sell their biofarm produce.
“The agriculture department has identified at least five key places across the town, where such vegetables would be sold through dedicated counters,” he said.
The initiative is a part of the dedicated biofarming corridor scheme to promote biofarming among farmers. The scheme was launched in as many as 17 districts of the state two years ago.
“While the focus initially was on encouraging farmers to switch over to biofarming, the agriculture department is now laying emphasis on giving farmers access to markets where they could sell their produce,” Singh said.
As per data available with the district agriculture office, farmers in different blocks have undertaken biofarming on altogether 1663 acres of land under 27 dedicated corridors selected for the scheme. As many as 1779 farmers are involved in it.
“To promote the initiative, funds to the tune of more than Rs1.91crore have been distributed among these farmers as input subsidies,” Singh said.
According to Gyaneshwar Kumar, in-charge of the biofarming corridor in the district, the farmers under the scheme were advised to not compromise on the quality of their produce as it must carry a qualitative distinctness in order to fetch higher prices in the market.
A meeting of all the officials concerned and farmers was held in this regard with the officials of the department last week, giving necessary tips to reap the benefits of their produce. Jaishankar Prasad, a farmer from Tetri-Dandari block, who participated at a national-level bioagriculture fair held in Goa earlier this year, also shared his experiences in the meeting.
The officials of agriculture department said apart from the dedicated corridor scheme, biofarming is also planned on 100 hectares of land under five clusters in Nao-Kothi, Garhpura and Bakhri blocks of the district under traditional agriculture development scheme.
“Besides, a plan is underway to carry out biofarming on 1500 hectares of land along Ganga river, for which interested farmers are being identified under the district,” Gyaneshwar said.