LUCKNOW, Oct. 31 -- Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said that agriculture and farmers' welfare had been brought to the forefront of national priorities since the Modi government came to power in 2014. "Earlier, no one earlier cared about the health of the soil that feeds us, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the Soil Health Card scheme. Moreover, the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi has freed farmers from the grip of moneylenders," Yogi said while interacting with sugarcane farmers from across Uttar Pradesh at his residence. "Previous governments neglected farmers, turning Uttar Pradesh into a 'BIMARU' state. Their mindset was corrupt and self-serving as they shut down and sold sugar mills, but we stopped this trend," the chief minister said. The UP government had on Wednesday raised sugarcane prices, known as the State Advisory Price (SAP), by Rs.30 per quintal for the 2025-26 crushing season, bringing significant relief to farmers across Uttar Pradesh. Recalling his government's first major decision in 2017, the chief minister noted, "On the very first day of forming our government, we fulfilled our promise of loan waiver for 86 lakh farmers. In the past eight and a half years, irrigation has been expanded to an additional 23 lakh hectares." Yogi said that earlier, farmers toiled hard but middlemen reaped the profits. "We ended that exploitative system. Today, payments for farmers' produce go directly into their bank accounts," he said. "No country or state can progress by disrespecting its farmers -- the true food providers," he added. Citing former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, he said that the path to the nation's prosperity passes through its farms. Highlighting his government's achievements, the chief minister said, "Over the past eight years, four new sugar mills have been established, six previously closed mills revived, and 42 mills expanded their crushing capacity. Production capacity has increased by eight large new mills, and CBG plants have been installed in two mills. Today, 122 sugar mills are operational, of which around 105-106 make payments to farmers within a week. We are now setting up integrated sugar complexes." He noted that sugarcane was no longer a seasonal crop; it had become a year-round economic activity....