Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
To boost farm income and promote non-toxic farming, the Uttar Pradesh government is giving impetus to natural farming along the banks of river Ganga.
The state is bringing agricultural land within 5 km on either side of the Ganges under natural farming spanning 27 districts.
So far, natural farming is being done over 85,000 hectares of land. Besides, a special campaign has been started for increasing natural farming in Bundelkhand region.
The state government is engaging with farmers regarding natural farming and to popularise the concept of zero budget farming.
State level Natural Agriculture Board has been constituted and more and more farmers are being encouraged to join the natural farming bandwagon.
Moreover, an area of more 66,000 hectares has been brought under organic farming benefitting 100,000 farmers in the state.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to link farmers with the organic farming portal of the central government.
To identify and ensure quality of organic products, laboratories will be set up at all divisional headquarters, apart from the outlets of organic products in agricultural markets.
Yogi noted river Ganga is a unique gift of nature to UP. “It is the central point of our faith and also the mainstay of the economy.”
“Satisfactory results have been achieved in the ‘Namami Gange Project’ to make the holy river and its tributaries ‘Aviral-Nirmal’ (clean and uninterrupted)…dolphins have returned to the Ganges,” he added.
The CM underlined before the commencement of Prayagraj Kumbh 2025, the resolve to make the Ganges cleaner will be fulfilled. “More efforts should be made for urban solid waste management to ensure uninterrupted and clean flow of all the rivers including Ganga.”
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The ‘Arth Ganga’ campaign will benefit tens of millions of people whose livelihood depends on Ganga. “With the target of contributing 3 percent to the GDP from Arth Ganga, we have to make concerted efforts with the help of experts,” he underscored.