look news india
Lucknow, August 17: Yogi government has taken a big step in the interest of potato producing farmers and implemented three important schemes for the financial year 2026-27. Dinesh Pratap Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Horticulture, Agricultural Marketing, Agricultural Foreign Trade and Agricultural Export, launched the newly developed online portal https://potato.uphorticulture.in/ for transparent implementation of these schemes at Udyan Bhawan on Monday.
Minister Dinesh Pratap Singh said that to provide relief to the farmers from the fall in market prices due to high yield of potatoes, Bhamashah Price Stabilization Fund of Rs 1000 crore has been established, for which a provision of token amount of Rs 100 crore has been made. Under the scheme, the production cost of potatoes will be determined by a committee constituted under the chairmanship of the Agricultural Production Commissioner. 25 percent of the fixed production cost or the difference between production cost and selling rate, whichever is less, will be given to the farmers as a grant. Subsidy will be allowed on maximum 2 hectares per farmer and maximum 240 quintals per hectare. About 12 to 14 lakh farmers will benefit from this.
To avail the benefits of the scheme, farmers will have to apply online only. The grant amount to eligible farmers will be transferred directly to the bank account through Aadhaar-seeded DBT. The implementation period has been fixed from 01 January to 15 April and 01 July to 31 October. For benefit, buyer-seller deal form will be mandatory and farmers will be able to avail benefits by selling in market, sub-market, cold storage premises or in their own fields.
Yogi government has given big relief to the farmers storing in private cold storages. 173.03 lakh metric tonnes of potatoes are stored in 2363 private cold storages in the state. A scheme of Rs 1000 crore has been implemented for exemption in storage charges, in which there is a provision of 100 crore token amount. Under this, a grant will be given at the rate of Rs 100 per quintal, up to a maximum of Rs 20,000 per farmer. More than 15 lakh farmers will benefit from this scheme.
To provide potato seeds of new and high quality species to the farmers, a rebate scheme in seed selling rate of Rs 5 crore has been implemented. Under this, a maximum rebate of Rs 1000 per quintal will be given on department-based purchase of potato seeds, which will reduce the cost of production per hectare. More than 15 thousand farmers will benefit from this.
Shri Singh said that the Yogi government is giving top priority to the income, interest and respect of farmers. The implementation of all three schemes will be transparent and easy through the portal, due to which potato farmers will get direct economic benefit from the fall in market price, storage cost and cost of quality seeds.
On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary BL Meena, Horticulture Director BP Ram along with departmental officers and potato producing farmers were present.
