Farmers' incomes in West Bengal have more than doubled in the last eight years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing that her government has already surpassed the Centre's goal of ensuring a twofold increase in wages by 2022.
In a letter dated March 26, Banerjee told the prime minister her government in West Bengal had been focusing "relentlessly" on improving the socio-economic conditions of farmers.
"After our government came to power in 2011, we have been focusing relentlessly on improving the socio-economic conditions by primarily enhancing the income of our small and marginal farmers who cultivate almost 95 per cent of the arable land in the state," she said.
As a result, Banerjee said, the annual income of farmers in the state had increased by 2.6 times per farmer from Rs 91000 in 2010 to Rs 2.39 lakh now.
"In terms of farmers' income, our achievement has already surpassed the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022 as mentioned in your letter," it said.
The Prime Minister had written to all state governments on March 9 regarding the doubling of farmers' incomes by 2022.
The chief minister added that the state had been procuring the main crop, paddy, at the minimum support price directly from the farmers and making payments directly to them through RTGS in 72 hours.
"In this Kharif marketing season, we have already targeted to procure 52 lakh MT of paddy," Banerjee said.
She added the state government had taken several steps to open up the market for better realisation by farmers with two amendments to the APMC Act in 2014 and 2017.
Banerjee, however, assured the prime minister that whenever needed, her government would take appropriate steps to amend the existing Act to make it more market and farmer friendly.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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