Mumbai : Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis highlighted several initiatives his government has taken for the benefit of farmers in the state as he inaugurated an agro exhibition at NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s home turf in Baramati on Friday.
“More investment is needed in this sector for sustainable agriculture as 52% of state’s population is dependent on agriculture,” Fadnavis said as he inaugurated the three-day agro exhibition organised by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Baramati.
“We are installing 1,059 automated weather stations which will update the farmers with weather conditions time to time,” Fadnavis, who reached the venue in a battery operated vehicle, said.
After PM Narendra Modi praised NCP chief Sharad Pawar on the latter’s home turf in Baramati, and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley paid a visit last month, it was Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s turn.
While speaking at the inaugural event, in the Appasaheb Pawar auditorium, Pawar reminded Fadnavis that three years ago Maharashtra was leading in pulses production.
However, the chief minister in his speech focused only on explaining policy reforms including loan restructuring, irrigation policies and crop pattern changes undertaken by his government in the last one year to address the farmer suicides and recurring drought in the state.
He also explained the progress made by the government through its flagship project Jalyukta Shivar Yojana where he highlighted the additional 25 TMC water that helped bring six lakh hectares of land under irrigation across worst drought-hit 6,200 villages in the state in the past eight months.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is facing a probe by ACB in an alleged irrigation scam, was also present at the event. Fadnavis had recently made it clear that the visits of high profile government functionaries to Baramati won’t affect the probe.
