Agricultural operations in UP went smooth during COVID-19 lockdown: CM Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday asserted that agricultural operations in the state were carried out without any hurdles during coronavirus-induced lockdown and subsequent relaxation of the restrictions.

In a video conference on Agriculture Infrastructure Fund with Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the chief minister said the lockdown could have impacted the supply chain and harvesting but the state government took adequate measures to prevent such a possibility, an official release said.

Giving details of the government initiatives and agriculture activities in the northern state, Adityanath said 35.77 lakh tonnes of wheat and 319 metric tonnes of mustard were procured by the government.

He said sugarcane is the most important cash crop in Uttar Pradesh and all 119 sugar mills of the state were run at full capacity. “This year, crushing of 1,118.02 lakh MT of sugarcane produced 126.36 lakh MT of sugar,” the release said.

During the video conferencing, Union minister Tomar said the central government had exempted agricultural operations during the lockdown period, resulting in good agricultural production. He said due to lack of processing facilities after harvesting of crops, farmers suffer a lot.

With a view to create more agricultural infrastructure facilities to increase the yield of farmers, an agricultural investment package of Rs 1 lakh crore has been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tomar added.

Modi had earlier this month launched financing facility of Rs 1 lakh crore under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for agri-entrepreneurs, startups, agri-tech players and farmer groups for post-harvest management and nurturing farm assets.

(Photo Credit: PTI)