The past year has brought a new dawn for the farmers and unemployed youth in Madhya Pradesh. The State Government has also opened up avenues for financial assistance giving priority to the farmers and youth in the field of agriculture and horticulture and food processing. Both these areas have become a strong medium of additional income for the farmers and youth.

Now the farmers of the state have started to adopt the business of horticulture and food processing along with farming. Unemployed youth are also becoming self-sufficient by adopting this sector with modern technology.

After the formation of the new government in the state, the biggest challenge was to make the farmer prosperous and provide employment to the youth. The government has increased the subsidy of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe farmers from 50 to 70 percent in the vegetable and spice area expansion scheme in horticulture.

Due to this, farmers are getting grants up to Rs  70 thousand per hectare. The grant is also being provided on the material used for making pavilions of plastic crate and vine vegetable crops along with seeds. This has resulted in a reduction of 20 to 25 percent in loss of crops incurred in transporting horticulture products from the farm to the market.

Good quality of crop products has started fetching more value in the market. The government has now decided to give a grant for cultivating up to two hectares at the rate of Rs 7 to 12 thousand per hectare on pavilion building material of vine crops on the demand of the farmers. By this, the time of production of the crop will be increased from 6 to 7 months by planting vine vegetables on the pavilion.

Also, due to very good quality of production, the market rate will also increase by 20 to 25 percent. This way, farmers will be able to get an income of Rs 2 to 3 lakhs per hectare from crops like bitter gourd (karela), bottle gourd (lauki) and sponge gourd (gilki).

Considering the possibilities of food processing from this year in the State, 1,000 acres of saplings of Totapari mango variety is being planted in Hoshangabad, Harda and Betul districts.  In this, a special plan for planting saplings has been implemented by providing a grant-in-aid of Rs 56 thousand per acre to the farmers.

The scheme will also be extended to other districts next year. This variety of mangoes can generate income from Rs one to one and a half lakh per acre for the farmers.

Along with this, employment will also be generated by the establishment of mango processing industrial units in the State.