Mahindra and Mahindra and ITC have been included as corporate members of the newly-formed commission
Taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of doubling income of farmers by 2022 in Uttar Pradseh, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has constituted a Farmers’ Welfare Commission which will suggest ways and means to the achieve the target in the state.
The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be the Chairman of the newly-constituted Commission while the State Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Sahi and Niti Ayog member Prof Ramesh Chandra will be its Vice-Presidents. The Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar and the Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) RP Singh will be its members.
The Deputy director Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) will also be the member of the Commission. International Rice Research Centre, Phillipines India Representative Dr US Singh, Managing Director, International Crops Research Institure for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Hyderabad, Giri Institute’s Prof Surendra Kumar, ICAR former MD DR Mangla Rai, ex-Director Dr R.B. Singh have been nominated as invited members of the commission.
Besides, Mahindra and Mahindra and ITC have been included as corporate members of the newly-formed commission. Progressive and award-winning farmers from different districts of the state have been made representatives of farmers.
A notification for setting up the commission was issued by the Yogi Adityanath government late Friday night. “The commission aims at suggesting economical and alternative sources of farming in addition to transform the traditional farming with latest advancement in the field of agriculture for increasing the income of farmers in the state,” stated RP Singh, the APC.
The commission would strive to work for increasing production of farmers with low investment and make available better storage facility with cold chain so that their produce do not rot due to lack of these facilities and farmers get better pricing.
About 35 to 40 per cent produce of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, particularly vegetables, is perished in the field due to lack of cold chain, proper storage and transportation facilities. It is one of the main reasons why farmers end up incurring huge losses.
The commission would also mull over having tie-ups with big food chains to have a direct tie-up with farmers for buying their produce from their field to save their transportation cost and increase their profit margins.
The state government may adopt Centre’s model Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act to free farmers from the clutches of middlemen in ‘mandis’ who make more profit than the producer. The existing APMC Act prohibits farmers to sell their produce directly to buyers. They can sell their produce only in mandis where they fall prey to these middlemen.
The Chief Minister has already sought help from the Remote Sensing Applications Centre (RSAC) in Lucknow to provide satellite data for floods, heavy rains and drought for advance planning to minimize the effect of natural calamities.
The Commission will start functioning by this month end and would come out with its suggestions by January 2018. “It’s a big challenge but the way commission has been constituted, we are sure to achieve Prime Minister’s target of doubling farmers income by 2022,” claimed RP Singh, the PAC.
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