MLCs flag farmers’ issues, min responds | Lucknow News
Lucknow: Opposition MLCs raised problems faced by the farmers’ community in the state on the floor of the Vidhan Parishad on Monday. Stating that the govt’s claim of doubling farmers’ income has fallen flat on the ground, Samajwadi Party MLC Balram Yadav said: “Contrary to the govt claim, input cost in farming has gone up. Farmers are also suffering because of delays in payments, shortage of fertilisers, and high electricity rates.”Highlighting the plight of farmers from western UP, MLC Kiranpal Kashyap said: “Govt may have increased the minimum support price of sugarcane, but it is still not at par with what the neighbouring state of Haryana is offering.”
He also raised the plight of potato farmers suffering at the hands of the govt not fixing a minimum support price for the crop. Similarly, Mukul Yadav raised the issue of stray cattle and farmers suffering because they don’t know what to do with the farm waste. The opposition MLCs stated that farmers were suffering because of the state govt’s ineptitude to address their key issues. The state’s agriculture minister, Surya Pratap Shahi, snubbed the opposition and presented data to defend the govt. “The per capita income in the state has improved significantly over the past 8 years. That’s because the govt has undertaken solid steps to double farmers’ income,” he said. Citing an example, he said that in 2013-14, the total area under kharif cultivation was about 90 lakh hectares, which has increased to 105 lakh hectares now. Similarly, the area under rabi cultivation in 2013-14 was 1.20 lakh hectares, which has increased to 138.71 lakh hectares now.
