Farming to play a crucial role in making UP a one trillion economy
Lucknow| The contribution of agriculture and related sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Uttar Pradesh stood at Rs 5.98 lakh crore in the year 2023-24. According to departmental data, this will increase to around 7.24 lakh crore in 2024. This is about one fourth of the total GDP of the state. These figures show the importance of agriculture sector in Uttar Pradesh. In such a situation, as per the intention of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, agriculture sector will play an important role in the one trillion economy of the state. In view of this, Yogi government is taking every possible step for the betterment of the agriculture sector. He is with the farmers at every step from seed to market.
An official of the Agriculture Department said that the necessary infrastructure (expressway, national highway, the only waterway of the country) is ready to boost farming. The government is trying to find out the reason for minimum and maximum production of the same crop in different districts and remove it. Not only this, efforts are being made to bring the crops whose production is less than the national average to the national average and to take the production of crops whose production is equal or more than the national average to the level of the best producing state. This is the objective of the UP Agreement (Uttar Pradesh: Agricultural Development and Strengthening Rural Entrepreneurship) scheme, run with the help of the World Bank, focusing on relatively low production Bundelkhand and Purvanchal.
The duration of the scheme is 6 years and the cost is four thousand crore rupees. It is expected that it will increase the productivity of the districts concerned by about 30 per cent. Seed Park Scheme, “One Block One Crop” for Horticulture, Reorganization of Milk Committees, posting of Senior Administrative Officer in Fisheries Department as Director General, Government has special focus on use of technology in farming.
He told that for the promotion of all this, there are 5 agricultural universities in the state, 89 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) affiliated to different universities. Apart from these, “The Million Farmers School”, organized at Nyaya Panchayat level before every Rabi and Kharif season, seminars and farmer fairs at divisional and district level are also being helpful for the farmers. The government is also constructing agricultural colleges in Gonda, agricultural universities in Kushinagar, veterinary colleges in Bhadohi and Gorakhpur. In this way the Yogi government is focusing on the overall development of this area.
In fact, there is still a lot of potential for improvement in farming in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath says that Uttar Pradesh has immense compassion for nature and God. Nine types of agro-climatic zones are suitable for all types of crops, horticulture and vegetable farming. Being the most populous, there is neither labor nor market worry. Rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Saryu have abundant water available throughout the year.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest area of cultivable land (166 lakh hectares). More than 80 per cent of the area of arable land is irrigated. The livelihood of about 3 crore families of the state depends on agriculture. Uttar Pradesh is number one in the country in the production of food grains and milk, second and third in the production of fruits and flowers. Yogi government wants to further expand these possibilities so that this sector also plays an important role in the one trillion economy.
