VHP to reach out to farmers: Pravin Togadia

Togadia said the VHP will train farmers across Gujarat beginning the first fortnight of January.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will reach out to farmers to help them raise their income, its working president Pravin Togadia said on Saturday, voicing concern over their indebtedness and incidents of suicide. “In the last two years, those farmers who were prosperous in this country have became poor and have been forced to take loan and commit suicide,” Togadia told reporters after meeting agricultural scientists associated with Anand Agriculture University.

“These farmers can be made prosperous again by increasing their income. An increase in the farmers’ income by even 10 per cent will change their life,” he said. Togadia, met agricultural scientists from the varsity-both teaching retired-to discuss plans to help farmers become prosperous. He said they discussed ideas by which a farmer’s income can be increased one-and-a-half to two times, adding the VHP will begin a pan-India programme to meet farmers and share with them these ideas.

“I am here to discuss how we can take the proposals of agricultural scientists to 70-80 crore farmers across 6 lakh villages in the country,” he said. Togadia said the VHP will train farmers across Gujarat beginning the first fortnight of January. “These farmers will be trained so that they could themselves practise (new techniques) and also teach farmers from 10-20 neighbouring villages. This will help these farmers increase their income using their own intelligence and hard work rather than by remaining dependent on a chief minister or prime minister,” he said.