Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said due to the "apathy" of previous governments in the state, farmers were forced to commit suicide but the situation has changed for the better under the BJP rule.
Addressing a conference of progressive farmers here, Adityanath said the state government was aiming to open Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in all gram panchayats that will bring about a major change in the agriculture sector and help farmers in many ways.
"There was everything in the state earlier, but due to the apathy of the previous governments, the farmers were in a pitiable condition. They were committing suicide and were thinking of whether to continue with farming or not. In two years, we were able to bring a lot of change," he said.
Highligthing his government's achievements, Adityanath said, "We waived loans of up to Rs one lakh for small-marginal farmers in the first cabinet meeting and gave relief to potato farmers through market intervention scheme."
Alleging that during the previous governments rule, the payment of sugarcane farmers was stopped, Adityanath said: "The sugar mills were getting closed and being sold. We paid a record Rs 82 thousand crore and opened new mills. Today 121 mills are running instead of 116 in the state."