Nagpur: Day 3 of spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's 'Antarang Varta' at Divisional Sports Complex created a spiritual vibe and briefly became a forum for discussion on the plight of farmers in Vidarbha. On Sunday, the guru addressed the questions from a couple of his followers on the matter and spoke about the role of 'Art of Living' (AOL) programme.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was present, too gave an assurance to mitigate the problems like low crop yield, irrigation and low profitability faced by farmers in the region.
Ravi Shankar urged the farmers to take up organic farming being taught at AOL centres. "Many farmers in the country have benefited from this method of farming and more and more people are joining AOL for this purpose," said Gurudev.
On the suggestion of a follower, Ravi Shankar said that free guidance will be given to farmers of Vidarbha at AOL centres. He said, "Farmers in Satara, Sangli and Pune districts, who used to earn just Rs40,000 per annum, are now earning as much as Rs14 lakh after adopting organic farming."
Ravi Shankar said, "We also need to make our villages self-sustainable. Agricultural trusts in universities play an important role in this regard." He also spoke of how some ex-cadres of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) were benefited from AOL.
"They were from the farming community and had come to AOL's centre in Bengaluru to learn organic farming. When I met them recently, they told me their yield had improved significantly and they are earning a decent profit," said Gurudev.
Gadkari conceded the fact that farmers of Vidarbha were in distress and cited lack of proper irrigation infrastructure as one of the major reasons. He said, "An estimated 20-25% work on 14 irrigation projects of the region are yet to be completed. To expedite the process, I and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have sought additional funds from the central government to the tune of Rs10,000 crore."
The minister estimated that once all the irrigation projects in the state are completed, around 40% of farmlands will be irrigated which will boost crop production by 2.5%. Currently, around 18% land is under irrigation, according to Gadkari.
Gadkari predicted that milk production in Vidarbha will increase to 28 lakh litres per year since the milk scheme in the city has been contracted to Mother's Dairy. "Currently, the milk production in the region is as low as 7-8 lakh litres per year. However, retailing milk at Rs52 per litre means that farmers are getting a fair price. This will encourage milk production," he said.
Courtesy: The Times of India
