Bihar to explore the potential of cooperative farming, teams to visit Gujarat

With a view to exploring the possibilities of pursuing “cooperative farming” in the state, Bihar Cooperative Minister Pramod Kumar on Monday (February 23, 2026) claimed that teams of 50 persons, each associated with cooperative societies, will be sent to Gujarat to study cooperative farming.

Asserting that the state has potential for cooperative farming in view of small landholdings, Mr. Kumar, while addressing the press, said that “a team of 50 persons, each associated with cooperative societies of the department, will visit Gujarat and see how people are doing cooperative farming and how it is creating employment opportunities there (in Gujarat). The teams, after studying the cooperative farming of Gujarat, will replicate the same in Bihar.”

Stating that Bihar has the potential to practice cooperative farming, the minister said that “the farmers of the state now do not have large land holdings. Earlier, farmers had 100 hectares, 150 hectares or 200 hectares of land, but now that is not the case. Now it is not the case anymore. [land parcels] is further divided into small pieces of land. We are exploring the potential of cooperative farming in the state.”

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The minister was accompanied on the occasion by Cooperative Department Secretary Dharmendra Singh, Registrar of Cooperative Societies Rajnish Kumar Singh, Additional Registrar, Cooperative Societies Ram Naresh Pandey and others.

Cooperative has the potential to provide employment, Mr. Kumar said, adding that the department is exploring the possibilities of creating employment through cooperatives as it has the potential to create employment.

Citing the example of the famous Tilkut company in Gaya, he said there are many companies in the area preparing Tilkut. Interestingly enough, Unpleasant [sesame seeds] is not produced in the state but is imported from other states such as Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

“After discussions with farmers, we will investigate whether or not this is the case Unpleasant can be produced in Magadh region through cooperative farming,” said Mr. Kumar.

Stating that he has reviewed rice procurement in 22-23 districts of the State, Mr Kumar said the department has so far procured 29.22 lakh tonnes of paddy, which is 79.30% of the target of 36.85 lakh tonnes to be procured in the current Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2025-2026.

Paddy is procured from a total of 4.28 lakh farmers through 6,879 cooperatives. He added that ₹6,400 crore has been transferred to farmers’ bank accounts as Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Meanwhile, the state’s cooperative department on Monday (February 23, 2026) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF), New Delhi for revival of two closed sugar factories at Sakri in Madhubani district and Raiyam in Darbhanga district of the state.

The MoU was signed at a meeting at Deep Narayan Singh Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, Patna. It was held in the presence of Cooperative Minister Department Secretary and NFCSF Director Prakash Naiknavare and others.

Both the Sakri and Raiyam sugar factories have been closed since 1997. The Raiyam Mill was established in 1914 while the Sakri Mill was established in 1933.

Sakri sugar mill has 47 hectares of land while Raiyam has over 68 hectares of land. Moreover, Raiyam has its own special 14 km long trolley line that goes to a place called Makdumpur.