UP govt's initiative to turn non arable land fertile

The decision to include more land under the agricultural purposes was taken as infrastructure projects like expressways, defence and industrial corridors have resulted in levelling of 40,000 to 50,000 hectare of agricultural land over the past few years.

Under the Deendayal Upadhayay Kisan Samriddhi scheme, the state decided to conduct a survey of the non-arable land from June last year.

According to the government spokesman, the department will infuse Rs 113. 06 crore to treat the barren land and utilise it for growing crops, vegetables and other useful plants and trees.

Special secretary Rajeev Srivastava has issued directives to all field officials to start work with the help of locals.

Barren, thickets, fallow, low lying land parcels have been included in the survey and community support of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers and workers will be taken.

As incentive, such land is going to be allocated in the name of the landless workers.

"The objective is to identify more land for agricultural purposes and support the landless agricultural workers so that they create assets for increased income. In case land is unfit for growing crops, various methodologies and procedures are available to consider other options such as vegetables and nurseries," said the spokesman.

The area of the land which is going to be prepared will be higher than the size of Lucknow city. The districts to be taken during the first phase are Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur and Chitrakoot in Bundelkhand and Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh.