By Vivek Tripathi

Lucknow, Aug 23 (IANS): The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has announced that it will implement 'One District, One Product' (ODOP) scheme for the farmers, for which 45 districts of Uttar Pradesh have been included. The successful implementation of the scheme is expected to benefit lakhs of the farmers of the state.

Agricultural products will be selected on the basis of agro-climatic zone, product quality, taste, aroma, nutritional and medicinal properties, and export potential. Farmers of the respective districts have been recommended about growing specific crops.

Additional Chief Secretary for Small, Micro and Medium Industries, Navneet Sehgal, said: "Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is working for the betterment of the farmers. The products of many districts included in the ODOP scheme are related to farming only. With the help of the Centre, we will implement the scheme in a better way."

The scheme will help in making gram of Bundelkhand, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba and Sonbhadra famous across the country. Apart from this, the millet of Badaun will also gain popularity and fresh vegetables of Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar will be made available to the people of Delhi.

The prospects for the farmers cultivating green chillies in Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and for those who are producing black salt in Gorakhpur, the home district of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will also improve.

The CM had announced the ODOP scheme in January 2018. Products like 'Kalanamak rice' of Siddharthanagar, banana fibre of Kushinagar, banana of Kaushambi, jaggery of Ayodhya, aamla of Pratapgarh, pulses of Balrampur and Gonda, desi ghee of Auraiya, handicraft made of wheat stalk in Bahraich, wooden toys of Chitrakoot, wooden artifacts of Saharanpur, Basti, Bijnor, Rae Bareli etc. are included in the ODOP scheme.