Lucknow, April 05: The positive results of the decision taken by the Yogi government regarding farmers have started coming to light. Farmers of the state have started harvesting their crops by maintaining the social distancing (Social distancing is only way to protect oneself from the infection of dreaded COVID-19).
However, in view of that farmers should not face any problem during lockdown days, the Yogi government had exempted the use of Combine harvester for harvesting Rabi crops, other farming equipments, opening of fertilizer-seed shops and labourers.
This year February-March weather was very unpredictable. Rabi crops were severely damaged due to unseasonal heavy rains and hailstorms in many places. When the remaining crops was about to be ready, at the same time the country got locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic. In such a situation, the farmers were upset.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took strong decisions for the farmers amid lockdown across the state due to coronavirus outbreak like harvesting and selling of Rabi crops, sowing of zaid crops ( Zaid crops are summer season crops grown on the sub-continent on dry lands which do not have to wait for monsoons) and providing necessary agricultural investment to the farmers. The result of all this is that harvesting of crops has started.
Purchase started on Minimum Support Price
The government has announced that the procurement will start on time at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). In this sequence, the purchase of mustard, gram and lentils has started from April 2. This will bring great relief to the farmers of Bundelkhand and Agra division. It is known that the government will buy 2.64 lakh MT mustard, 2.01 lakh metric ton gram and 1.21 lakh MT lentil from MSP farmers respectively. These purchases will be for 90 days.
90 thousand applications have come to insurance companies
According to the information received from the state government, due to extremely bad weather in the months of February-March, the crops of farmers were severely damaged. For this, the government has instructed the insurance companies to compensate the farmers for their loss in time. District Magistrates (DMs) of all districts have been instructed to issue passes to the employees of the Department of Agriculture and Revenue along with the insurance companies for this survey work. So far, more than 90 thousand farmers’ applications have come to insurance companies.
