The State of Jharkhand was created in November’ 2000 after carving 79 lakh hectares geographical area from the State of Bihar for better planning and execution of development activities of a ecologically different zone ( Hills & Plateau region compared to Bihar plains). Agriculture is the main stay for the 80% of rural population of the state. Agriculture is their employment and primary income generating activity.

The agricultural economy of the Jharkhand state is characterized by dependence on nature, low investment ,low productivity, mono-croping with paddy as the dominant crop , in inadequate irrigation facilities and small ands marginal holdings.

The dependence of agriculture on the Vagaries of the rain-god can be gauged from the fact that as much as 92% of the total cultivated area is unirrigated. The cultivable land resources of the state has good potential for higher production of horticulture and forest products. The soil is young and has high capacity of fixation of humus.

The forest provides sufficient biomass to feed its soiling. However, Soil erosion and failure to recycle the biomass is depleting the soil fertility. Hence , a judicious oil ,water and land management is required only that can improve agriculture productivity. Despite the fact that the state has a good rainfall , the surface water availability to agriculture is not sufficient due to inadequate storage facilities etc. as far as the status of ground water is concerned , it is also in the poor state due to little recharging of ground water by natural process in absence of artificial recharging facilities, as a result , the water label in the plateau is going down. Presently, The availability of water resource is only 287810 lakhs m3, out of which 237890 lakh .m3 is from surface water and rest 49920 lakh m3 is from ground water.

The total utilization of surface and ground water in the state for irrigation purposes so far is only 47360 lakh m3 out of which 39640 lakh m3 is surface water and 7720 lakh m3 is ground water. For all round agricultural development, technology must be supplemented by institutional mechanisms to ensure the provision of the essential facilities and services that the farmers need to improve agronomic practices and obtain higher yield. Only the development of a healthy agricultural marketing system can guarantee remunerative prices to the farmers and motivate the adoption of scientific cultivation for raising agricultural productivity.

Though Jharkhand State is endowed with vast and rich natural resources mainly those of minerals and forest, 80% of its population residing in 32620 villages and depend mainly on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. One of the main strategies for development of Jharkhand State is to ensure agricultural and rural development on sustainable basis, Capacity building is the focal point for any developmental endeavor. As far as agricultural development is concerned. apart from technological aspects, ensuring new, cheap and timely availability of inputs assumes significant importance.

In agricultural sector there is scope for bringing additional area under cultivation through vertical and horizontal expansions, increasing area under irrigation, increasing production and productivity of food crops through optimum utilization of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural. tools and implements, etc. Besides these horticultural development has vast potentialities not only in terms of meeting the local requirements of fruits, vegetables, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants but also in terms of exploiting the opportunities for exports. Similar is the situation with the livestock enterprises with respect to increasing milk, meat and egg production. There is vast scope in the state for establishing food processing units including those of fruit and vegetable preservation, milk and meat preservation and for processing of minor forest produce.