Uttar Pradesh govt looking to boost production of millets, maize.

Driven by the overarching theme of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, the Yogi Adityanath government is working towards boosting the production of coarse cereals in Uttar Pradesh. Coarse cereals require less water for irrigation, while their farm input costs are also economical compared to other crops such as wheat and paddy. The state government is encouraging farmers to cultivate prominent coarse cereals, including maize, jowar, bajra (millets) and jau (barley). Currently, the total area under these four coarse cereals stands at almost two million hectares or 9.75 per cent out of the total 20.5 million hectares of cultivated area in UP. Production wise, the total yield of maize, jowar, millets and barley during 2016-17 stood at 4.7 million tonnes or a little under 9 per cent of the total food grain production of 55.7 million tonnes in Uttar Pradesh.