Uttar Pradesh is poised to become the Food Basket of India

Lucknow : To establish Uttar Pradesh as the “Food Basket of India,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his government are implementing a range of initiatives to increase crop yields. The government has set the target to boost production by 30 percent in the next six years through a Rs 4,000 crore investment, leveraging innovation and technology with the collaboration of farmers and scientists.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath envisions Uttar Pradesh as the nation’s ‘Food Basket’, with compelling reasons to support this goal. The state is home to the highly fertile Indo-Gangetic belt, offers nine distinct agricultural climates suitable for growing a wide variety of crops and fruits, and has rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, and Sarayu ensuring year-round water availability. Additionally, Uttar Pradesh benefits from abundant labour and a large market due to its population, further strengthening its potential in agriculture.

The Yogi government is consistently working to boost crop yields through various initiatives, and these efforts have started showing results. However, when compared with national and global production levels, there remains considerable potential for improving yields in Uttar Pradesh. To address this, the government has embraced ambitious central projects such as UP AGREES ((Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Growth and Rural Enterprise Ecosystem Strengthening).

Notably, about two years ago, the government collected district-wise and crop-wise data on maximum and minimum productivity. The aim was to understand the reasons behind the disparities in crop yields and determine what measures could be taken to boost production in districts with lower yields, thereby closing the gap.

Now, the Yogi government, with support from the World Bank, is undertaking this exercise again through the UP AGREES (Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Growth and Rural Enterprise Ecosystem Strengthening) initiative. This time, the effort is more extensive, utilizing greater resources and following a timely, well-planned approach.

It is worth noting that Uttar Pradesh leads the country in total agricultural production, contributing around 24% of the nation’s output. The state ranks first in wheat production, accounting for 31% of the country’s yield, and is second in paddy production, the main crop of the Kharif season, with a 15% share.

Despite these achievements, the per-hectare production of most crops in Uttar Pradesh remains below the national average per quintal. It lags behind the states with the highest per-hectare production and falls short when compared to global maximum production levels. For instance, aside from rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, and gram, Uttar Pradesh trails behind leading states in the production of other major crops.

In Uttar Pradesh, the productivity of rice is 27.59 quintals per hectare, compared to 43.66 quintals in Punjab. Wheat productivity in UP stands at 36.04 quintals, while Punjab achieves 48.62 quintals. For other crops, the figures are as follows: Jowar 15.78 (Andhra Pradesh 30.70), Bajra 22.21 (Haryana 23.72), Maize 23.31 (Tamil Nadu 68.20), Urad 4.98 (Maharashtra 5.68), Moong 3.58 (Maharashtra 5.55), Sesame 2.26 (West Bengal 9.74), Gram 13.76 (Gujarat 15.68), Arhar 9.88 (Jharkhand 11.38), Masoor 9.88 (Madhya Pradesh 11.39), Pulses 10.79 (Gujarat 12.75), Mustard 14.12 (Haryana 22.17), and Oilseeds 10.54 (Tamil Nadu 20.43) quintals per hectare. To enhance production, UP AGREES has focused on districts in Purvanchal and Bundelkhand where yields are relatively low.

The government and the organization are optimistic about achieving a 30% increase in productivity by investing Rs 4,000 crore in these regions, leveraging innovation and technology with the support of farmers and scientists. Given that the productivity in western Uttar Pradesh is already high, boosting productivity in Bundelkhand and Purvanchal will significantly advance UP’s goal of becoming the world’s food basket. Even with these improvements, there remains substantial potential for growth.