Lucknow, Jun 27 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has claimed to fulfil the Bharatiya Janata Party's pledge for agricultural development as well as promises made to the farmers in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra, which was released during the last state Assembly elections in 2017.
According to a government spokesman, the Yogi Adityanath government's journey to develop agriculture and uplift farmers, began with the waiving off loans to the tune of a whopping Rs 36,000 crore of 86 lakh farmers.
This was followed by implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna to recognize progressive and innovative farmers as well as provide an insurance cover for their produce respectively.
From laying a strong foundation for agricultural development to making it a profitable sector and doubling farmers' income, the Yogi government has many achievements to boast of.
In the last four years, the state government has made a record payment of Rs 1,37,891 crore to 45.74 lakh sugarcane farmers, which is two times more than payments made during the Bahujan Samaj Party government and one and a half times more than made during the Samajwadi Party government's tenure.
Fulfilling the promise of development of agriculture, farmers and farm labourers, the Yogi government not only achieved record grain production and procurement, but also made direct payments to the accounts of farmers within 72 hours, eliminating middlemen from the procurement process.
The spokesman said that the agricultural production in the state increased from 389.28 lakh metric tonnes in 2014-2015 to 624.19 lakh metric tonnes in 2020-2021.
The procurement of paddy, maize and wheat also increased manifold.
Other achievements of the Yogi Adityanath government include promoting cow-based zero budget farming, running 119 sugar mills during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, granting license for sanitizer production to 91 sugar mills, generation of electricity worth Rs 1500 crore at sugar mills.
The state government has also ensured completion of Ban Sagar Dam project which was pending for 46 years as well as eight other small and medium scale dam projects, registration of 6.18 crore farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, establishment of 20 new Krishi Vigyan Kendras, registration of two lakh farmers on e-procurement portal.