India: Support for Agricultural Value Chain Development in Uttar Pradesh

The Government of Uttar Pradesh's Agriculture Policy 2013 set a vision for the state being the Granary of the Nation' by ensuring food and nutritional security, and to improve the quality of village life with inclusive and sustainable growth. To achieve this vision, the target of the Government of Uttar Pradesh is to grow the agriculture sector by 5.1% per year, and to encourage private sector participation in the field of agricultural research, development, extension, input management and agricultural marketing. In terms of relevance to improved agricultural value chains, the policy identified the need to (i) increase the income of farmers through agricultural diversification towards high value activities; and (ii) develop infrastructure facilities in sectors of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agriculture implements, extension services, food processing and marketing by promoting private sector involvement across the agricultural value chain.