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Varanasi, June 24 (HS). Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said that due to the government's policy and the hard work of the farmers, the state has been in the first place in food production for the last seven years. The state is also maintaining the first position in sugarcane. The government is giving better MSP to the farmers for agricultural products. The present government is not only announcing schemes but also ensuring their implementation.
The Agriculture Minister was addressing the joint divisional Kharif productivity seminar of Varanasi, Prayagraj and Vindhyachal divisions organized at the Padma Vibhushan Girija Devi Cultural Complex located at Chowkaghat on Monday. He said that there has been a huge increase in agricultural exports in the state in the last four years. A total of Rs 56570 crore worth of exports have been made from the state in the last four years. For the first time in the 77-year history, Lucknow's Dussehri mango was exported to America. Gram flour from Gorakhpur was exported to Singapore. Which is presenting the changing picture of Uttar Pradesh.
He said that farmers will not have to worry about fertilizers in any way now. The state has a fertilizer capacity of 24 lakh metric tons. He said that two crore 70 lakh farmers are registered in the state. All the farmers are being benefited from Kisan Samman Nidhi. He told that in the last few years, more than 73000 crores have been sent to the accounts of farmers through Samman Nidhi. This has helped the farmers financially. The Agriculture Minister emphasized on the need to work continuously in the field of rain water harvesting and also to pay continuous attention to tree plantation.
Before this, the Agriculture Minister visited the agriculture exhibition organized by various departments including IIVR Varanasi, IRI Varanasi, Animal Husbandry, APEDA, Agriculture Department, Horticulture Department, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Cooperative, Fisheries and Agriculture Production Organization. He visited the stalls and gathered information about the products. Principal Secretary Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development Ravindra Kumar gave information about the schemes of the Animal Husbandry Department. Commissioner Rural Development Gaurishankar Priyadarshi told in the meeting that under the MNREGA scheme, a provision has been made to spend 60 percent of the total expenditure in the agriculture sector.
He informed that Uttar Pradesh is consistently maintaining the first position in the Amrit Yojana for water conservation and along with water conservation, various cultural activities have also been added at the village level in the Amrit Yojana. On this occasion, Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi Zone Kaushal Raj Sharma informed that the total area coverage in Varanasi Division is about thirteen and a half lakh hectares, out of which 6.37 lakh hectares is under Kharif-2024. Which mainly includes paddy, maize, millet etc.
He informed that against the total distribution of 78874 quintals of seeds under Kharif-2024, currently about 74000 quintals of seeds have been made available and the availability of the remaining seeds and distribution of mini kits will be ensured in the next 15 days. The Divisional Commissioner drew the attention of the Agriculture Minister towards reducing the transport cost of farmers and further promoting subsidy on expenditure on poly house in order to promote exports.
In the meeting, Vindhyachal division commissioner Muthu Kumar Swamy presented the various schemes of agriculture and related departments in the division and the progress of the district before the agriculture minister. Varanasi district magistrate S. Rajlingam welcomed all the guests who came to the meeting.
In the seminar, Director Horticulture and Food Processing, Director Agriculture and MD Seed Development Corporation, scientist of IRI Varanasi, Dr. Sunil Kumar also gave necessary information.