Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday emphasised on the need to promote natural farming and reduce toxicity of agricultural land by curbing the use of chemicals and fertilisers.
Speaking at the 33rd Foundation Day of UP Council of Agriculture Research (UPCAR) on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said: “Indian agriculture is faced with a challenging task of reducing the use of chemicals and fertilisers to bring down the toxicity of land. We are grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making a provision in the Union budget for natural farming. The PM had said in 2020 that natural farming could be promoted along the banks of the Ganga river and horticulture and cultivation of vegetables could be done in a big way.”
The CM said that the BJP had then taken out ‘Ganga yatras’ and Ganga nursery, Ganga Upvan were set up.
“Natural farming with low cost and good yield is a good alternative to toxic agriculture with chemicals and fertilisers. I appeal to farm scientists to join this campaign for natural farming which will not only help in raising the income of famers but also prevent diseases,” the CM said.
Yogi said that UP is home to 17% population of the country but with only 12% agriculture land, yet its contribution in national foodgrains production is 20%. UP is endowed with rich water, mineral resources and fertile land, he added.“The UP government has accorded top priority to farmers’ welfare. The government, soon after taking over in 2017, had waived the loans of farmers and the Centre later increased the minimum support price of agriculture crops for increasing the income of farmers which immensely benefitted them,” the chief minister said.
Yogi said the massive push to agriculture diversification in the last five years has helped in increasing the income of farmers. “Besides UPCAR, four agriculture universities and 89 Krishi Vigyan Kendras played a stellar role in translating the infusion of modern input and technology into farming,” he pointed out.
He said that during the last five years, additional irrigation potential of 21 lakh hectares of land was created. Several irrigation projects lying incomplete for several decades were completed, including Ban Sagar, Saryu river project and Arjun Sahayak river project, he noted.