Lucknow, Mar 30 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Gau Seva Ayog chief on Monday claimed that cow smuggling cases have come down under the Yogi Adityanath government.

Shyam Bihari Gupta asserted that before 2017, such incidents were rampant in the state.

“But after the government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath came to power, illegal slaughterhouses were shut down through strict action. Since then, the system of cattle conservation has strengthened, and today about 1,258,000 cattle are being protected in around 7,500 gaushalas across the state,” he said in a statement.

Gupta said that the Cow-Based Natural Farming Mission is being rapidly rolled out to make gaushalas self-reliant and to increase farmers’ income.

Such farming is being promoted across nearly 94,000 hectares in Uttar Pradesh, of which 23,500 hectares are in Bundelkhand-Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, and Mahoba districts.

“In the coming time, cow-based natural farming will determine the direction of farmers’ future. A single cow produces around 5 litres of urine and 10 kilograms of dung daily, which are extremely useful for natural farming. With nearly 19 million cattle in the state, there are immense possibilities in this sector,” he said.

Cattle conservation work is being carried out at 7,716 locations across the state, and gaushalas are now being developed as centres for organic manure production, he said. PTI NAV VN VN