Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday praised farmers in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district for turning the region into a major potato-producing hub.
Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s controversial ‘aloo se sona’ remark, PM Modi said local farmers were already achieving this through their hard work.
Addressing a gathering in Bhildi, the Prime Minister credited Narmada water and modern irrigation techniques, particularly drip irrigation, for transforming agriculture in the region.
“Banaskantha’s potatoes are now famous across the world. Nobody needs to come here and say they will make gold out of potatoes. The people here can say that they are already doing it,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi made the ‘potato in, gold out’ remark during a speech in Gujarat’s Patan district on November 12, 2017.
PM Modi highlighted the expansion of Banas Dairy’s potato-processing plant at Sanadar, which manufactures French fries. He said the upgraded facility would increase production capacity and procure more potatoes from local farmers. The expansion is expected to create additional market opportunities for growers.
The Prime Minister praised Banas Dairy for extending its cooperative initiatives beyond Gujarat, including to Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency.
He further highlighted the government’s horticulture cluster development programme, which has approved 12 clusters for crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, grapes, bananas, onions, oranges, pomegranates and cocoa.
Two clusters in North Gujarat will benefit farmers in Banaskantha and Sabarkantha.
PM Modi urged farmers to conserve water and electricity. He said Narmada water and micro-irrigation had helped overcome earlier agricultural challenges and improved farming prospects.
During the visit, he inaugurated an automated storage and retrieval system for ultra-high-temperature milk products at Banas Dairy’s Palanpur facility. He also laid the foundation stones for two Bio-CNG plants that will process cattle dung.
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