LUCKNOW Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said partnerships with Google and Network for Humanity, ITC, and Aquabridge under the World Bank-funded UP-AGREES project will help increase agricultural productivity and farmers’ incomes in 21 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and seven districts of Bundelkhand.
The memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed in the CM’s presence with the Uttar Pradesh Diversified Agriculture Support Project (UPDASP) under the UP-AGREES initiative, according to an official statement.
“These MoUs will play an important role in increasing agricultural productivity and the income of food providers in 21 districts of eastern UP and seven districts of Bundelkhand,” said the CM while speaking on the occasion.
The UP Agriculture Growth and Rural Enterprise Ecosystem Strengthening (UP-AGREES) project is an important initiative to take agriculture in the state from productivity towards prosperity and the future economy. Its objective is not only to increase production, but also to simultaneously strengthen farmers’ income, the climate resilience of farming, value addition and rural entrepreneurship, Adityanath said.
The approximately ₹4,000-crore World Bank-supported project is being implemented in 123 development blocks across 28 districts of eastern UP and Bundelkhand.
It aims to benefit 10 lakh farmers, 35,000 fish farmers and three lakh women, covering around six lakh hectares, he said.
Adityanath said: “Work is also being undertaken towards developing an open network for agriculture in partnership with Google and Network for Humanity. This will be a digital public infrastructure for agriculture. Through this, farmers will not need separate apps and platforms for different services. Instead, our objective is to provide them access to weather, market prices, soil, agricultural advisory services and various Agritech services through a single interface.”
He said Agritech startups and companies will also be able to provide services to a large number of farmers through the open network. He said the objective is to reduce costs, provide more income with fewer resources and also provide quality in accordance with the global market.
The CM said a partnership is also being undertaken with ITC to develop climate resilient commodity clusters for paddy and wheat.
Adityanath said a proposal has been made to develop a 1500-acre paddy cluster in Bahraich in accordance with DU Compliant and MRL standards. Partnerships are also being undertaken with leading private companies for crops such as paddy, wheat, chilli, maize, green peas and tomato, which
will enable farmers get access to markets and better procurement arrangements, he added.
He said the state government wanted to develop a complete blue economy ecosystem in UP by connecting aquaculture with science, technology, processing and entrepreneurship. “We are going to take fisheries from a traditional activity towards a technology-driven enterprise with
Aquabridge. Through the partnership with Aquabridge, fish farmers, cooperative societies and entrepreneurs will be connected with modern technology and training. Special focus will be given to AI-based aquaculture management, automatic feeding technology, modern training and capacity building,” said the CM.
