Record cane dues paid to farmers in BJP rule: Yogi:
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that farmers of Uttar Pradesh, which was dependent largely on agriculture, faced difficulties and challenges due to lack of new techniques and awareness about it.
Speaking at an Innovative Farmers’ Meet organised by Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology in Gorakhpur under the aegis of CII and Agriculture department, the Chief Minister said to overcome these challenges, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Soil Health Card scheme under which over 3.5 crore farmers had been provided cards in UP. He said with the help of modern techniques, farmers should grow and produce crops matching the properties of the soil.
The Chief Minister said that in the last five years, the Modi government had introduced several welfare schemes for farmers, including the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana under which all farmers were being given annual assistance of Rs 6,000 in three instalments, two of which had been credited in the bank accounts of the identified farmers. “Farmers have also been paid 1.5 times the cost of the produce,” he said.
“During the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party regimes, farmers could barely get Rs 900 per quintal for wheat but our government is giving Rs 1,860 per quintal. Besides, for the first time after Independence, Rs 70,000 outstanding dues had been paid to sugarcane farmers”, he added.
The Chief Minister said that Pipraich and Munderwa sugar mills had been started for sugarcane farmers of eastern UP. He said the Pipraich sugar mill would have a crushing capacity of 50,000 quintals per day and the sugar mill would produce fine sugar, ethanol, and electricity.
Talking about the initiatives taken by the state government, the Chief Minister said, “Around 40 lakh farmers have been trained and imparted knowledge of creative farming through Uttar Pradesh Farmers’ School.”
Referring to the dairy sector, Yogi said, “The previous SP government had ruined the milk production while the BJP government was continuously making efforts to promote the dairy industry and its products.
He said over 14 dairies were going to start soon in the state and arrangements were being made with milk committees to purchase milk from farmers so that more and more farmers got into the dairy industry.
Yogi said, “The Bansagar project was pending since 1977-78 and token money was given every year but to no use. Within one year of our government, the project was completed. With the help of the Bansagar project, arrangements have been made to irrigate 1.5 lakh hectares of land.”
Yogi said that along with agriculture, farmers will also have to engage in animal husbandry, dairy industry, horticulture, vegetable production, poultry, fisheries and duck farming to increase their income.
The Chief Minister said that farmers were the biggest agricultural scientists and they should share their experiences with the Agriculture department so that more work could be done for their benefit.
