During the last decade, Bihar's agricultural sector has been one of the fastest growing in India. This study is organized as follows.
- Chapter 2 provides a framework for understanding the competitiveness of Bihar's agricultural/ agribusiness sector by examining the relative position of Bihar on a number of competitiveness parameters. The chapter also provides an overview of the sector and analyzes recent trends in Bihar agriculture.
- Chapter 3 addresses the institutional innovations in Bihar, namely, the decentralized Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) extension model, and the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) model. It examines their performance and their impact on, among other criteria, agricultural incomes, productivity, market access, and water availability.
- Chapter 4 analyzes specific agricultural commodities, namely, maize, dairy, and selected fruits and vegetables that are of particular importance to Bihar.
- Chapter 5 concludes with lessons learned and recommendations.