Apathy of previous govts forced farmers to commit suicide: Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said due to the "apathy" of previous governments in the state, farmers were forced to commit suicide but the situation has changed for the better under the BJP rule. Addressing a conference of progressive farmers in Lucknow, Adityanath said the state government was aiming to open Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in all gram panchayats that will bring about a major change in the agriculture sector and help farmers in many ways.

"There was everything in the state earlier, but due to the apathy of the previous governments, the farmers were in a pitiable condition. They were committing suicide and were thinking of whether to continue with farming or not. In two years, we were able to bring a lot of change," he said. Highligthing his government's achievements, Adityanath said, "We waived loans of up to Rs one lakh for small-marginal farmers in the first cabinet meeting and gave relief to potato farmers through market intervention scheme."

"Paddy and wheat were procured in record quantity at minimum support price (MSP) and the money was sent to farmers' account within 72 hours. So far, Rs 11,594.18 crore have been sent to the account of about 1.83 crore farmers," he added.

Alleging that during the previous governments rule, the payment of sugarcane farmers was stopped, Adityanath said: "The sugar mills were getting closed and being sold. We paid a record Rs 82 thousand crore and opened new mills. Today 121 mills are running instead of 116 in the state."

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"Old mills are being modernised and their capacity is being expanded. There is a clear instruction to the mill owners that as long as there is sugarcane in the farmer's field, the mills should function. This is the reason why the mills kept running till mid-June in the last crushing season," he said.

For increasing the income of farmers, the CM said, emphasis is on maximum production at minimum cost.

"That is why the efficient modes of irrigation, drip and sprinkler, are being made mandatory with boring schemes given on grant," he said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who was present as the chief guest, said in terms of population, the largest state of the country and the world, has immense potential in the agriculture sector.

"The Ganga basin here is most fertile. Abundant water supply, human resources and diversified climate further increases these possibilities. The image and fate of the state can be transformed with all these things. The situation has changed under the able leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath," he said.

"For this phase of change to continue, instead of traditional farming, agricultural diversification will have to be encouraged. If the government gets its products processed according to market demand, the entire world will be the market for agricultural products of UP," he said. 

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