Yogi bats for natural farming, envisions UP as ‘Jaivik Pradesh’

Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath has given a clarion call to adopt organic and natural agricultural practices to benefit farmers as well as to develop the state as ‘Jaivik Pradesh’ (Organic State).

Addressing the 33rd Foundation Day of the UP Council of Agricultural Research (UPCAR) in Lucknow recently, Yogi said in the last five years, the state agriculture department had played a key role in promoting organic farming and crop diversification.

“The biggest challenge is to ensure chemical-free farming at a lower cost. For this, organic farming should be widely promoted and adopted,” he added.

The CM lauded the efforts of the UPCAR and its scientists in this regard.

Underlining the importance of organic and natural farming, Yogi stressed the need to create awareness regarding the comparative benefits of low input costs, good production and toxin-free cultivation.

“I call upon all agricultural scientists to promote it, which will not only help in increasing the income of farmers manifold but provide a medium to get rid of all kinds of diseases,” he noted.

Yogi said that the state government was setting up testing labs at divisional headquarters, where the process of certification of seeds and production was being done.

Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CM supported the provision of ‘cow-based natural farming’ in the Union Budget.

Both the central and the state governments are working to promote natural farming on the banks of the river Ganga. The UP government is encouraging natural and organic farming in the entire Bundelkhand region.

“For the larger interests of the state farmers, our government provided crop loan waiver in 2017. By completing the irrigation projects pending for decades in a time-bound manner, we brought about a massive change in the lives of crop growers,” Yogi added.

Mentioning the government’s efforts to revive the sugar industry in UP, Yogi said that the closed sugar mills had been revived, and even during the Covid-19 crisis, 120 sugar mills continued to function in the state.