Prior to 2017, the state’s sugarcane farmers were compelled to burn their crops because of lack of water for irrigation, electricity, and timely payment of their dues. In the previous six years, no farmer in Uttar Pradesh became helpless and attempted suicide, said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Monday.

Flagging off 77 tractors for farm machinery banks set up in cooperative sugarcane and sugar mill societies, the Chief Minister said: “Today is going to be a historic day for the sugarcane farmers when on the eve of Holi, Rupees two lakh crores will be sent directly to the farmers’ bank accounts through DBT.”

The Chief Minister added: “We have freed the sugarcane farmers from the brokers’ clutches, and today the farmers do not have to wander around in search of the slip because their slip arrives on their smartphone.” He said that the state’s 77 sugarcane committees are receiving tractors and other equipment today.

“We all know what the condition of sugarcane farmers was earlier. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office, the farmers have for the first time been included in any government’s agenda and have begun to benefit from government’s programs. Every farmer who was previously dependent on moneylenders is now able to benefit from the Soil Health Card, Kisan Bima Yojana, Agricultural Irrigation Scheme, and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi,” CM Yogi said

Mentioning that now 2.60 crore farmers in the state are taking advantage of the facility of the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi, the CM said, “Within the last three and a half years, we have done the work of transferring an amount of Rs 51,000 crores to their accounts.”

Asserting that a farmer is just a farmer and has no caste, creed, or religion, Yogi said: “We all know what was the situation in the state before 2017. There was no electricity and no water for irrigation. We have now provided irrigation facilities to 22 lakh hectares of land. Previously, farming was considered a loss-making venture due to a lack of water, fertilizers, and a fair market price for the produce.”

The Chief Minister said that today, UP was going to create a new record in the country, adding that sugarcane payments totaling more than Rs two lakh crores are now reaching farmers’ bank accounts for the first time. Many states in the country do not even have an annual budget of two lakh crores, he pointed out.

“In contrast to the previous governments, where sugar mills were closed or sold at throwaway prices, we did not shut down any sugar mill, and instead re-started the closed sugar mills. Munderwa and Pipraich sugar mills were made functional again. When the world’s sugar mills were shut down, UP still had 119 sugar mills operating,” said Yogi.

The Chief Minister stated that his government paid the sugarcane price on time and procured wheat and paddy at the higher minimum support price. “For this more and more purchase centers were established. The instructions were clear: as long as the farmers had crops, the government would purchase them, he said.

The Chief Minister said that maximum green ethanol is being produced in the country through sugarcane farmers. “Previously, our own money was spent in the form of terrorism against us under the name of the Petro Dollar. But now ethanol is being produced in farmers’ fields in the form of sugarcane and soon it will be seen being used in the form of diesel and petrol”, he remarked.

“Today, our farmers are progressing by using mechanized farming. Apart from this, co-farming is being practiced through FPOs, enhancing the fertility of the land as well as profits of farmers,” Yogi remarked.

The Chief Minister cited the example of a progressive Bijnor farmer who, instead of selling his sugarcane to sugar mills, makes vinegar and markets it abroad. The Chief Minister said that due to mechanized farming, today the stubble is mixed with the soil instead of being set on fire, contributing significantly to the farm’s fertility. Farming is being advanced through mechanization.

The Chief Minister stated that 105 of the state’s 119 mills pay the sugarcane price within 10 days. “We’ve also put pressure on the remaining 14-15. Where previously brokers were involved, the slip now arrives on the farmer’s smartphone. Those who used to exploit farmers have had their businesses shut down.”