Purvanchal Agriculture sector must be improved.

The growth rate of agriculture sector in Purvanchal has been very very slow since ages . The growth rate in Agro sectors in Purvanchal must be increased for years to come.

Agriculture is the core competency of Purvanchal and all our effort should be put in place to get the Agro Growth going.

Eastern UP with its fertile Gengetic plains should become Bread Basket for country. However currently Purvanchal is facing certain challenges:

1: UP State irrigation department is in efficient in providing water supply to Purvanchal approparitely

2: Power supply by PVVNL ( Purvanchal Vidyut Board ) to rural purvanchal regions is abysmal and many villages dont even have Electricity pole and transformer installed.

The agriculture must grow at much higher rate. It has to reach a high growth level to become the bread basket of India. This will require strong commitment from all the stakeholders, Central Government, State Government led by Mayawati , local administrative staff and the farmers to work jointly. The farmers must be able to take the opportunity with open arms.

The infrastructure and control required by farmers to meet their part of commitment for 10% growth are:

1: Access to Information (7x24) Farmers even in the remotest part of Bihar should have access to pertinent information seven days a week 24 hours a day. The recent devastation in Purnea and other area shows the lack of this infrastructure. The availability to get world price of grain, weather, information on nearest market, market demand of high cash value crop and good farming techniques would give farmers a chance to play their role in achieving 10% growth.

2: Access to Market: Not all the farmers have access to market. This compromises in the income of farmer. Samridhi foundation has proved that by giving access to market the farmers will easily raise their income. The construction of roads and providing special transport service to transport farmer’s produce to reach market will enable the access to market. This will not only facilitate to get fresh quality of produce but also in larger quantity. Government should not hesitate to give special incentives to transport service provider who bring the fresh produce directly from farmers to market in an expeditious way.

3: Value Add to Produce: Bring the packaging plants to farmers, so that they can move up the food chain by providing items with value added. Processing of Dried fruits, vegetables and vacuum packed fruits and vegetables etc. will not only reduce the wastage but also produce employment while generating more revenue for farmers. This value add and reduction in waste will result in increased revenue for farmer, which will work as incentive to achieve 10 % growth.

4: Access to Water: The infrastructure must be put in place such that the excessive rain or extra dry spell will not severely hurt the crop production. This can be done by state government working very closely with central government to manage the water by constructing, dams, canals, and interconnecting rivers. Hon President Kalam has a master plan to connect the rivers of state and India. Purvanchal will become the capital of water in coming decades and century with rivers like
ganga , Gomti etc. The successful water management will stop the devastation, and the Government and state can spend money on development, rather than on repair.

5: Access to Power: Power is key to increase efficiency of farmers, The watering of crop, processing for value added, capability to access information, requires power all the time. The success to achieve 10% growth in agriculture could be severely hampered by non availability of power. Government must provide incentives for generation of clean and green renewable energy following example of Bihar's power generation from Rice husk , Chaurs by Saran renewable energy etc. This is a opportunity which is just knocking at the door. Government of UP and Purvanchal administration, should promote the clean energy power generation by providing huge incentives to set up renewable power generation in village and it’s surrounding areas.

6: Access to essential services: Farmers should be able to fill up forms, request data, file a complaint, get land registry and be able to get all the requested information. These data are so easily available in any city and should be equally easily available in even the remotest village of Bihar. The banking facility should be available to each and every farmer in their own villageby means of micro financing also Purvanchal Farmers Co-operative Union should be formed which can open new coperative Banks and coperative Dairy Boards. This will increase the productivity of Agriculture and Farmers.

7: Access to Good Health: The proactive education on health, hygiene, preventative care and early treatment will make the villagers healthier. The health clinic should be part of the school facility with a nurse present all the time, This facility should be available in every BLOCK , and it is responsibilty of Block Development Officer to ensure this facility to villagers , currently proper dispensary is available only in Jaunpur district that too doctors without proper qualification which is very very shameful. Good health will result in good attitude and more productive farmer.

8. Better Public transport : UP State Govt should ensure proper public transport facility in whole of Purvanchal region , by means of proper buses and roadways , and railways facility , also there must be proper development of State highways in Purvanchal region in the region of Varanasi - Badohi- Jaunpur - Pratapgarh - Sultanpur, and proper bridge between Varansi - MughalSarai and a proper ferry boat between Varanasi- ( mughal Sarai, Ghazipur) .
This will also facilitate goods carriers to connect Purvanchal output to sea ports and other cities.

All the above eight points are equally important to achieve 10 % growth in agriculture sector. Government has to play a key role of facilitator. It has to attract business in green and renewable power sector. It must put it’s full effort on water control. It must put programs to give incentives to entrepreneurs provide farmers the access to market. With these as objectives, nothing can stop from becoming bread basket of India.

So the time has come for each Purvanchalis to work hard. It is news like this which wakes all of us up and requires all the energy to be harnessed in making Purvanchal and Eastern UP a developed regions which starts with Agriculture sector development.