Ahmedabad, May 10 (IANS): Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday said her government's new agriculture policy intended to quadruple the income from agriculture and stressed on increasing the farm yield, increase storage capacity, value addition and quality improvement and use of land.

Launching the 12th edition of statewide Krishi Mahotsav from Anand in central Gujarat, she said under the new comprehensive Agricultural Business Policy-2016 policy, her government wanted to open the doors of global trade for farmers and youth of the state through modern farming, food processing and establishing value chain from farm to global commodity markets.

Even as the state's farmers are linked to extension centres of agricultural universities for latest lab-2-farm inputs, Patel said the stress would be on incentives to increase yield, increase storage capacity, value-addition and maintain quality and to encourage prudent land use.

Patel, herself daughter of a farmer, gave a slogan: "Samriddh Kisan, Sukhi Kisan (prosperous farmer, happy farmer)" and claimed that her government was pro-farmer. She said her government had been encouraging organic farming and was setting up an organic farming university.

She said the government was taking measures to prevent adulteration in fertilizers and milk, while it would provide land at concessional rates to agricultural produce marketing committees (APMCs) and milk distribution centres.

The government planned to provide one lakh new electricity connections during the Krishi Mahotsav, loan at one percent interest, allocation of Rs.10 crore for drip irrigation and Rs.100 crore to check damage to crops by animals, she said.

The chief minister claimed that the almost three-time rise in the yield of groundnut, bajri, wheat, banana and rai from 900 to 2,700 kg per hectare was because of efforts made during the Krishi Mahotsav.