Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that till three years back, the farmers of the state were getting the price for their agricultural produce that was less than the minimum support price but now they were getting more than 1.5 times the cost of production as support price.
“In the year 2015-16, the minimum support price for paddy was Rs 1,400 but the farmers did not get more than Rs 900-1000. This year, the price is Rs 1,835 and the money is being sent directly to the farmers’ accounts. Apart from this, the state government is giving an additional Rs 20 per quintal for filtering and transportation. Through the support price only, the state government is providing more than 1.5 times of the cost of production to the farmers, which is an attempt to bring a comprehensive change in their lives,” the Yogi said.
The chief minister was addressing a felicitation function of the state-level farmer producer organisations, organised by NABARD at the Deeksha Bhawan of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University on Sunday.
He said that FPOs and banking institutions could contribute significantly in increasing the income of farmers and bringing prosperity in their lives.
The chief minister said that today was the age of branding and the more we promoted our brand, the more value it would get.
“Many farmer producer organisations (FPOs) are branding their product by doing better work and they are getting better benefits,” he said.
Yogi said that there were 823 development blocks in the state and by the end of this financial year, every development block should set up one FPO, which could be a role model for the farmers there.
The chief minister said that efforts should be made to establish one FPO in all the 60,000 gram panchayats of the state, as this would help in increasing the income of farmers manifold.
“If the farmers are prosperous, the region and the country will prosper,” he said.
The chief minister said that earlier purchases were made in the state through middlemen. “Naturally, they were the ones who used to earn profits. Today we are purchasing 53 lakh metric tons of wheat and 50 lakh metric tons of paddy directly from farmers. We are declaring the support price for potato, pulses and oilseeds while enhancing their procurement,” he said.
Yogi Adityanath said that those who were dishonest and corrupt would see dishonesty and corruption everywhere.
The chief minister said that in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mentioned in his first address that the income of farmers had to be doubled by 2022. “In a country like India, farmers and agriculture complement each other. As long as we do not take this large population towards prosperity, there will not be prosperity in the country,” he said.
The chief minister said that efforts were being made in this direction through several schemes like soil health card, Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana, Prime Minister Agricultural Irrigation Scheme and Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi that had been implemented in the country.
He said on the same lines, the state government had provided better facilities to farmers like loan waiver, procurement of foodgrains and drip irrigation.