With the aim of rapid progress of agriculture sector in the country, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan has initiated state-wise discussions, under which the Union Minister held meetings with state agriculture ministers of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) at Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi today. UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi and MP agriculture minister Adal Singh Kansana led high-level delegations to discuss the issues of agriculture sector in their respective states.
Union Minister Chouhan said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the interest of farmers and agriculture sector is paramount and the Central Government will continue to provide all possible assistance to states. Several issues came up for discussion during the meeting including promoting diversification of crops, use of Information Technology, Digital Crop Survey, Farmer’s registry, E- NAM, strengthening of Farmer Producer Organisations, PM Fasal Bima Yojana and agriculture mechanization etc. Chouhan said that there is ample opportunity to promote crop diversification and natural farming in UP. He also reiterated that Centre is committed to have 100 percent procurement for Urad, Arhar and Masur in all the states including MP. Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Sanjeev Chopra along with senior officials of the Ministry were also present during the meetings.
Since taking over charge of Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development last month, Chouhan has initiated a series of meetings with state Ministers to discuss in details the issues related to his Ministries and resolve them in an expedited manner. The Union minister had met state agriculture ministers of Assam and Chhattisgarh last month.
