The Minister of State, Rural Development, in response to a question regarding inter-cropping-based income enhancement for sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh, replied in Lok Sabha that under the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM), sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh enhance their income through inter-cropping of pulses and oilseeds with sugarcane.
Through inter- cropping, farmers obtain an additional production of around 12 quintals of mustard per hectare and 10 quintals of urad per hectare along with sugarcane cultivation. Farmers also earn supplementary income through the cultivation of crops such as potato, onion, maize, garlic, cowpea and cabbage, along with sugarcane, which improves their overall income and livelihood security.
The Government has formed women's Self Help Groups, which prepare sugarcane seedlings and distribute them to farmers, thereby generating additional income for the SHG members and also provides equipment such as cutters and pro-trays to these women's SHGs. These SHGs have been linked with the National Rural Livelihoods Mission(NRLM) for institutional and livelihood support.
Further, for their skill development, training at the village level has been provided to farmers on inter-cropping with sugarcane and the adoption of improved cultivation methods such as the trench method of sugarcane sowing, which benefits farmers and enhances productivity.
To promote diversified income opportunities and strengthen village-level institutions and farmer groups in Uttar Pradesh, the Government supports rural entrepreneurship through Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs).
Under this initiative, rural unemployed youth aged 18-50 years are provided training in 70 skill development courses, including Agriculture Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP), General EDP, Process EDP, and Product EDP, along with EDP inputs