PM Modi to inaugurate mega UP farmers' conclave on October 26

UP to partner Israel, Japan for boosting agro-economy with tech, investment

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a mega farmers' conclave in Lucknow via video conferencing on October 26.

The three-day extravaganza 'Krishi Kumbh 2018' will also witness two of the world's top economies, Israel and Japan, as official partners. The state government will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan for investment in the agricultural and allied sectors.

Whereas Japan would be represented by a deputy minister, Israel's ambassador to India Daniel Carmon is slated to represent his country. In July 2018, Carmon, leading a delegation, had called upon chief minister Yogi Adityanath here. Both the countries have been expressing the keen desire to cooperate with UP in varied fields including industry and agriculture.

Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and senior central government functionaries would be present at the inaugural ceremony, UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi has said.

The government has further roped in Haryana and Jharkhand as partner states for the summit during 26-28 October in Lucknow. An estimated 100,000 farmers, agricultural scientists, entrepreneurs and corporate sector representatives are likely to congregate at the event exclusively dedicated to farming.

Meanwhile, union home minister and local parliamentarian Rajnath Singh would preside over the closing ceremony on October 28.

While, UP figures among the top agricultural and horticultural producers, its post-harvest and forward linking industries are grossly missing from the agro value chain. This invariably diminishes the earning potential of farmers and results in massive farm wastage year after year.

The state accounts for 36% and 12% of the country’s total wheat and paddy output respectively, besides potato (35%), sugarcane (40%) and being placed as the top diary producer. In the current kharif season, UP is targetting procurement of 5 million tonnes (MT) of paddy, which is estimated to provide direct benefits to farmers to the tune of almost Rs 90 billion on the basis of minimum support price (MSP).

In this backdrop, Krishi Kumbh is projected to introduce farmers to the different aspects of rural economy viz. agriculture, horticulture, dairy, pisciculture, beekeeping, food processing, animal husbandry, farm implements etc for inching towards the ultimate goal of doubling their income through diversification, adoption of modern farm techniques, post harvest management and food processing.

The farmers’ summit is third in the series of two similar high octane events ‘UP Investors Summit 2018’ and ‘One District One Product Summit’ to cover all the key aspects of the state economy, including agriculture, industries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

Last year, the Adityanath government had announced its flagship crop loan waiver scheme worth Rs 360 billion to benefit 8.6 million small and marginal farmers, although only about Rs 220 billion could be disbursed. However, the scheme has been extended with the government allocating about Rs 40 billion for targetted waiver.