UP continues to maintain first position in food, sugarcane production, says min
Varanasi, Prayagraj, and Vindhyachal Divisions hosted the 2024 joint kharif productivity seminar at Padma Vibhushan Girija Devi Cultural Complex, where UP Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi highlighted Uttar Pradesh’s top position in food and sugarcane production. With 2.7 crore farmers benefiting from Kisan Samman Nidhi and Rs 56,570 crore in agri exports, Shahi emphasized the need to boost pulses and oilseeds to curb imports. Other officials stressed ongoing support for farmers.
Varanasi: The joint divisional kharif productivity seminar-2024 of Varanasi, Prayagraj and Vindhyachal divisions was organized at Padma Vibhushan Girija Devi Cultural Complex, Chowkaghat on Monday.
Addressing the seminar, the UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi said that such seminars are organized to ensure food availability to the increasing population and make further action plans to improve the economic condition of the farmers.He said that for the last seven years, has maintained the first position in food production and in sugarcane. He said that today the state has surplus food reserves. Today, Uttar Pradesh ranks first in food, milk, oilseeds and sugarcane. The production of oilseeds has increased by 105%.
The minister said that 2.7 crore farmers are registered in the state, and all the farmers are being benefited from Kisan Samman Nidhi. Last year, over Rs 73,000 crore has been sent to the accounts of farmers through Samman Nidhi in the state.
“We are also providing subsidies to the farmers from time-to-time,” he said, adding that the farmers will not have to worry about fertilizers and seeds because there is sufficient stock in the state.
He said that the export of agri products from the state is continuously increasing. Goods worth Rs 56,570 crore have been exported from the state in the last four years. For the first time in the history of 77 years, Dussehri mango from Lucknow has been exported to America and gram flour from Gorakhpur has been exported to Singapore, which are presenting the changing picture of Uttar Pradesh, he said.
“We still have to import pulses from abroad and oilseeds worth about 1.25 lakh crores are imported from other countries. If we increase the production of pulses and oilseeds, we can stop this money from going out and we can also fulfill our needs,” said the minister.
The programme was also addressed by principal secretary of Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry, Ravindra Kumar, commissioner rural development Gaurishankar Priyadarshi, Varanasi divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma, and Vindhyachal divisional commissioner Muthu Kumar Swami.
