Now agri scientists will visit farms to help farmers boost production: Yogi

Time of India

3 days ago

Lucknow: Lauding Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, a national campaign aimed at educating farmers about modern and sustainable agricultural technologies as well as practices, CM Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said that this was the first time when agricultural scientist would come out of their labs and other big institutions to take stock of the agricultural land at the ground level and devise strategies to meet the challenges the farmers face.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Yogi said that the initiative will prove to be a foundation of the 'Viksit Bharat Abhiyan' envisioned by PM Narendra Modi. He said that agriculture scientists, officials from the agriculture and the allied sectors and farmers would come together to wheel in measures for higher agricultural productivity and growth.
"The broader objective of the campaign is 'lab to Land'. The interaction and dialogue between scientists and farmers will prove to be a milestone," he said.
The CM said that this will also be a key step for making UP a 1 trillion USD economy in the next four years.
Stressing that agriculture and farming underwent a sea change over the past 11 years, Yogi said that farmer centric measures like soil health card, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, due MSP have been implemented. "It is for the first time that farmers have been associated with technology," he said.
The CM said that the agriculture scientist would also assess the geographical and sociological situation besides understanding the climatic zone of the different areas to decipher the most productive seeds and crops accordingly.
He said that not only the agriculture department but also the Jal Shakti department, cooperative, animal husbandry and horticulture, has a big role in farming.
"The work of connecting 89 Krishi Vigyan Kendras, 826 development block headquarters, 8137 Nyaya Panchayats, Kisan Kalyan Kendras has been done with this campaign. When people associated with this field will promote the campaign, then a new revolutionary change will be seen in the field of agriculture," he said.
Yogi said his govt undertook an exhaustive drive to improve agricultural productivity and usher in farmers' welfare in the last eight years. The CM noted that UP accounted for around 12% of the total agricultural land in the country but produced almost 22% of the total foodgrains.
Yogi said that his govt was keeping a close tab on the changing weather conditions and their potential impact on crop productivity. "We need to take steps to provide better seeds to farmers to boost production," he said.
The CM slammed the previous govts for not putting forward the agriculture agenda.
"They used to claim to be taking farmer centric measures. But the ground situation was something different," he said, asserting that the farmers were devoid of seeds, fertilizers, water and even adequate MSP.
"But farmers have been at the top of the agenda of the Modi govt," he said, citing how the govt carried out a drive for soil health cards and other key measures like PM Krishi Sichai and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.
The CM said that the MSP for wheat in 2014 was only Rs 1000 per quintal. "This has not grown up to Rs 2,400. This has stoked such competition that the farmers were able to sell their produce in the open market at the rate of Rs 2,800 per quintal," he said, adding the govt took special measures for putting forth measures to improve irrigation facilities.
He admonished the previous SP govt in UP for not allowing functioning of Krishi Vigyan Kendra and Centres of excellence constituted by the Centre.
"All that has changed after 2017 (when BJP formed the govt in UP)," he said.
He also admonished the previous govt for not giving due attention to the needs of sugarcane farmers who, he said, were forced to set their crop on fire. "One can understand the status of the then govt," he said, adding that the cane growers were not given time payment. He said that his govt has made more than Rs 7,2000 crore of cane due payment than the one made between 1996 and 2017 in UP.
"Earlier sugar mills were forced to shut down. But today we are getting proposals for setting up new mills," he said. The event was attended by agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh, livestock and dairy development minister Dharampal Singh, cooperation minister JPS Rathore, horticulture minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, minister of state for agriculture Baldev Singh Aulakh, Gauseva Commission chairman Shyam Bihari Gupta, and UPCAR chairman Captain Vikas Gupta.
Yogi gives certificates to farmers
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath awarded certificates to farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan. The beneficiaries included Chet Ram Maurya (Chinhat), Anjani Verma (Itaunja), Kanhaiya Lal (Itaunja), Shivpujan (Salempur), and Lalta Prasad (Bakshi Ka Talab).