New Delhi: Yogi Adityanath government is setting up new benchmarks and milestones in improving the lives of farmers. Committed to ‘Mission Kisan Kalyan’, the state government has begun maiden purchase of maize and those growing this produce are making a fortune.

After registering record paddy purchase, Uttar Pradesh government has brought a turnaround in the fortunes of farmers by record purchase of maize and groundnut. While the purchase of groundnut has been 4 times than last year, the maize is purchased in the state for the first time.

In maiden purchase of maize in 2020-21, state government agencies purchased maize from as many as 24,859 farmers and paid over Rs 167 crore. According to official statistics, the state government had set a target of 1 lakh Metric Tonne purchase of maize but till January 16,2021, it has already exceeded the target and purchased 106412 MT of maize paying Rs 167 crore to farmers.

For procurement, 100 maize purchase centres have been set up by government, most 24 in Kanpur division followed by 18 in Aligarh and 15 in Devipatan division.

In groundnut purchase, the government purchase has been phenomenal. As compared to 1546 MT purchase during Kharif year 2019 last, as much as 6365 MT groundnut was purchased this year, a quantum jump of 4 times from 2019-2020. Groundnut is a major oilseed crop of India and also an important agricultural export commodity.

It may be recalled that Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has made record purchase of paddy this year, breaching the target 2 months ahead of the schedule.