BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has been stepping up efforts to connect farmers with modern agricultural technologies while encouraging them to adopt natural farming practices, with district-level ‘Balram Krishi Mahotsavs’ emerging as a key platform for the initiative.
The agriculture festivals, being organised across the state on the Chief Minister’s initiative, provide farmers with information on advanced farming techniques, agricultural mechanisation, natural farming and various government schemes. Yadav has also been regularly interacting with farmers participating in these events despite his administrative engagements.
The Chief Minister virtually interacted with farmers from Shivpuri from New Delhi recently. He has earlier participated virtually in Balram Krishi Mahotsavs organised in Ashoknagar, Guna, Vidisha, Raisen, Bhopal, Rajgarh, Sehore, Narmadapuram, Betul, Harda, Burhanpur, Ujjain and Khargone, among other districts. He personally attended the festival in tribal-dominated Alirajpur.
The state government is observing the entire year as the ‘Year of Farmer Welfare’, with a focus on increasing farm incomes, improving living standards and promoting sustainable agriculture.
At the district-level festivals, farmers are being given an opportunity to interact directly with agriculture experts and witness demonstrations of advanced technologies. The programmes cover digital agriculture services, weather-based farming, soil health management, drone technology, smart irrigation, modern farm machinery and contemporary farm-management practices.
Experts are also briefing farmers on farming methods suited to changing climatic conditions and measures for managing agricultural risks. Information on new technologies and market-oriented farming models is being provided to help farmers make informed decisions and improve returns.
Yadav has also been encouraging farmers to obtain a Farmer ID, a key component of the Digital Agriculture Mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Farmer ID is intended to provide farmers with a digital identity linked to information such as land records, livestock ownership, crops sown and benefits received under various government programmes.
The Chief Minister has simultaneously been advocating natural farming, citing concerns over the excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and their impact on farm sustainability and farmers’ well-being.
The government says natural farming can improve soil health and water-holding capacity, reduce dependence on chemical inputs and lower cultivation costs. It can also help farmers cope with climate-related challenges by reducing water requirements and promoting more sustainable use of natural resources.
For small and marginal farmers in particular, lower input costs could translate into higher net returns, while reduced dependence on chemical fertilisers and pesticides could contribute to healthier soil, water and farm ecosystems.
Yadav has repeatedly emphasised the central role of farmers in the country’s food security and economic well-being. He has described farmers and soldiers as equally dedicated to the nation, saying that while soldiers protect the country at its borders, farmers sustain it through their work in the fields.
At a Balram Krishi Mahotsav in Ashoknagar, Yadav had said that the very essence of a farmer is self-reliance, as farmers possess the capacity to feed their families as well as society through their own efforts.
The Balram Krishi Mahotsavs are thus being positioned not merely as agricultural outreach programmes but as a platform to expose farmers to technology, sustainable practices and government support mechanisms, with the broader objective of making farming more productive, resilient and remunerative.