Other than the popularity of State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) key point for campaign in Madhya Pradesh is the high growth in agriculture.

Though the Government’s achievements are contested by the Opposition and industry bodies, farmers are largely happy with the performance of the State Government.

The Government claims that agriculture grew at 9.05 per cent in the Eleventh Plan period.

“The growth in agriculture production in 2011-12 was 18.96 per cent. This is the highest growth for any State in the country,” a senior State Government official said. The Government claims wheat production increased 75 per cent in less than three years.

Krishi Cabinet, a unique concept by Chouhan, spearheaded the “change” in the sector. “This Cabinet meets at regular intervals and extensively discusses all issues related to agriculture. It takes up one department in every meeting and, apart from reviews, discusses scheme implementation also,” the official said, adding that 15 minutes were allotted to review agriculture in every meeting.

The Government says that providing credit to farmers at low interest rates, ensuring supply of quality seeds, providing balanced nutrients to different crops, various extension programmes, transfer of technology, bonus to farmers for wheat and paddy and adequate supply of power were the reasons behind the “success” in the sector.

Power supply

However, the Government’s claims are being questioned by experts.

“This is a natural growth. The Government has not done much to improve the situation. Look at the power sector. The State Government has not added any power project. It is private companies that are giving power to Madhya Pradesh farmers,” said Rajendra Kothari, a former Regional Director of Phdcci.

“If there was intervention and monitoring at various levels, things would have been different,” he added.

Sanjay Lalwani, a US educated farmer, said the Government’s wheat policy was good. “Yet, there is a lot of gap in irrigation. Maintenance of canals is very poor. Though electricity is available almost 24 hours, quality is not good. We depend on generators to run our pumpsets,” he said.

A number of farmers enrolled themselves in the SMS system that helps them avoid large queues in cooperative markets. “I get very a good price for wheat. I don’t have to pay any commission or stand in any queues to sell my crop,” said Rajmal Menade, a farmer from Ashta.

The 24-hour power supply started just a year ago. “I don’t know whether it is an election stunt. But in the last season, I got power for 24 hours. Earlier, it was six hours a day,” said Ghan Shyam, a farmer near Sehore.

State BJP President Narendra Singh Tomar said it was a conscious decision by the party and the Centre to focus on agriculture. He said the State had been constantly advocating higher minimum support price to farmers and the procurement in the past three years increased substantially because of this step.

jigeesh.am@thehindu.co.in

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