Contribution of farmers is important in building a developed India : Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai

Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai said that farmers have an important contribution in building a developed India. Along with modernizing agriculture, increasing the income of farmers is the priority of the Chhattisgarh government. He called upon farmers to engage in fisheries, animal husbandry and horticultural crop production along with paddy cultivation to increase their income. Chief Minister Shri Sai was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the National Agriculture Fair and Exhibition organized at the Indira Gandhi Agricultural University campus in the capital today.

The Chief Minister said that as soon as our government was formed in Chhattisgarh, on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we transferred the amount of Rs 3716 crore as bonus for paddy to 13 lakh farmers. As per our promise, we paid Rs 3100 per quintal for paddy and purchased 21 quintals of paddy per acre. Last year, 145 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was purchased. About Rs 49 thousand crore has been transferred to the farmers’ accounts through paddy purchase at the support price and the procurement price declared by the state government and the bonus due for two years. He said that in view of the good crop in the current Kharif season, the best possible arrangements will be made in the state for purchasing paddy at the support price. This year, paddy purchase work will start from November 14. This year too, record paddy purchase is expected.

Chief Minister Shri Sai said that today an agricultural fair and exhibition of advanced agricultural equipment is being organized to involve the youth in agriculture and move it towards modern farming. Indira Gandhi Agricultural University has also made an important contribution in the development of new technologies in the agricultural sector and making it reach the farmers. We are continuously working to ensure that more and more youth get the facility of studying agriculture and the agriculture of the state can improve further.

Agriculture Minister Shri Ramvichar Netam said that along with increasing production for self-employment in agriculture, special efforts are required for crop rotation, packaging and marketing of agricultural produce. Shri Brijmohan Agarwal, MP Raipur said that our Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister are themselves farmers, therefore, there is continuous progress in the field of agriculture in Chhattisgarh. Due to the schemes of Chhattisgarh Government, paddy cultivation is currently a profitable deal and suggested to increase the income of farmers by adopting crop rotation and including horticultural crops.

MLA Dharsiwa Shri Anuj Sharma, MLA Durg Shri Gajendra Yadav along with Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University Dr. Girish Chandel, members of the Board of Management, Shri Vimal Chawda, Shri Ramsuman Uike and Mrs. Janaki Satyanarayan Chandra were present in the program.
In the inauguration program, mini kits of new variety of lentil were provided to 6 farmers. 6 agriculture graduate students selected from the job fair in Agri Carnival were also given offer letters by various companies. On this occasion, the university’s coffee table book “Agrasar” and other farmer-friendly publications were also released by the guests. A check for the grant amount was also given to the young entrepreneurs of agricultural startups. In the Agri Carnival, about 4 thousand farmer brothers and sisters and about 1 thousand students from different districts of the state got information about agricultural techniques through field visits and exhibitions.

On the second day of the four-day Agri Carnival-2024 “National Farmers Fair and Agricultural Exhibition” organized at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, a seminar on “Export of Agricultural Products from Chhattisgarh” and a workshop on “Modern Plant Breeding Techniques and Data Analysis” and an “Exhibition on Biodiversity” and workshop were organized today on 23 October. The
two-day workshop on “Modern Plant Breeding Techniques and Data Analysis” was inaugurated by Dr. Girish Chandel, Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University. Dr. S.K. Katiyar, Program Head of East Africa International Rice Breeding Program, is present as a special guest in this workshop. In this, 211 scientists and researchers from Chhattisgarh and other states are being provided live training on modern rice breeding, speed breeding, data analysis, which will make it possible to develop new crops and varieties as per future requirements. In this workshop, international experts from International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines, Ghana, East Africa are providing training on new technologies. A one-day seminar on “Export of Agricultural Products from Chhattisgarh” was organized at Agri Carnival-2024 “National Farmers Fair and Agricultural Exhibition”, in which about 400 progressive farmers, young entrepreneurs, researchers and students participated.