Lucknow,

April 24 (HS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union

Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the regional agriculture

conference held at the Centrum Hotel on Friday by lighting a lamp. Addressing

the conference, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that to

achieve this goal, each state should develop an agricultural roadmap.

Furthermore, states should launch effective campaigns against counterfeit

fertilizers and pesticides and take strict action.

Shivraj

Singh Chouhan said that Uttar Pradesh is number one in food grain production in

the country. Its soil, climate, and hardworking farmers, along with Himachal,

Uttarakhand , and Jammu and Kashmir’s fruits, flowers, and vegetables are all

special. The Union Minister stated that the Indian government has decided to

establish an International Potato Center in Uttar Pradesh. The Union

Agriculture Minister said that we have three major goals in agriculture. First,

ensuring food security for the country, second, increasing farmers' income, and

third, providing nutritious food. To achieve this, we are working to increase

production, reduce production costs, ensure fair prices for farmers, and

compensate for losses. Along with this, agricultural diversification is

essential.

Expressing

concern over the indiscriminate use of fertilizers in agriculture, Shivraj

Singh Chauhan said that this is damaging the health of the soil. To address

this, we must also move towards natural and organic farming. Farmers should

also cultivate fruits, vegetables, and medicinal crops. He said that seeds are

our foundation. We need seeds suited to the climate. To this end, seed centers

are being established in various locations across the country.

He

told audiences that we have kept the country's food reserves full. There is no

need to import from anywhere in the world. He said that we are number one in

rice production. We have left China behind. Once we used to import red wheat

from America. Today the aroma of our Basmati is attracting people from Canada

to America. Our production is continuously increasing. But our population is

more than 140 crores. For this, make a roadmap and move ahead. How can we take

our country's agriculture to an advanced state. We can do animal husbandry,

goat rearing, fish farming along with grains on the basis of small land holdings.

Do tree based farming. The Union Agriculture Minister said that all states

should launch the Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, developed locally. Bring labs to the

land, bring new research to farmers, and bring knowledge to farmers. Our

scientists are ready to assist in this. He also said that state governments

should launch a campaign to secure KCCs for farmers who do not have Kisan

Credit Cards. Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi and

Horticulture Minister Dinesh Pratap Singh were prominently present on this

occasion.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi