Agri Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan directs officers to expedite formation of Makhana Board

New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday directed the ministry officials to make arrangements to ensure that farmers get better prices for the rabi produce and asked them to expedite the process for the formation of Makhana Board in Bihar.

Attending the weekly review from Bhopal through virtual mode, the minister took stock of the progress of Kharif (summer) crops, the weather forecast for the coming week and the prevailing prices trend.

Chouhan directed his officers to expedite the process of forming the Makhana Board and asked them to take suggestions from the farmers, an official statement said.

The Union Budget 2025-26 announced a Makhana Board to enhance Bihar's makhana industry with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore.

The minister also reviewed the progress of sowing of kharif crops.

As on February 21, the total cropped area under kharif (summer) crops increased to 22.31 lakh hectares in the ongoing 2024-25 crop year (July-June) from 21.84 lakh hectares in 2023-24.

Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi and other ministry officials were present in the meeting.

The officers informed there is still time for sowing of onion, potato and tomato and the coverage in normal areas is expected in view of prevailing good market prices.

So far, onion has been sown in 10.29 lakh hectare, up by 1.66 lakh hectare from the previous year. Potato has been sown in 19.82 lakh hectare, marginally higher by 0.31 lakh hectare in the said period.

The officers informed that widespread rainfall and snowfall is expected over western Himalayan region during the first half of the week under the influence of active western disturbance.

Overall during the week, rainfall is likely to be below normal over all the contiguous regions of the country, except Northwest India and South Peninsular India, where above normal rainfall activity is expected, they added.