Jalna, Apr 16 : The Maharashtra government is striving for increasing the income of farmers and their development so that they will become prosperous, said Sharad Pawar, chief of NCP whose party is constituent of Maha Vikas Aghadi, on Saturday. Speaking at inaugural function of an ethanol plant at Karmayogi Ankushrao Tope Samarth Sahakari sugar factory near here, he said that as farmers are the economic backbone of the country, they need to cultivate good quality seeds and cash crops. Pawar further said that Vasantdada Sugar Institute is one of the leading institutes which provides quality seeds as well as many agricultural supplements to the farmers across the state. It has been decided to start a branch of this organization in Jalna district, where 105 acres of land has also been purchased at Patharwala for this organization, he said. The NCP chief also said that through this institute, necessary technical education would be imparted to the budding youths of Jalna district and employment opport ties would be available to them, he added. State and District Guardian Minister Rajesh Tope, minister Balasaheb Patil, Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Association president Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar, West Indian Sugar Mills Association president B B Thombre among others were present on the occasion. Expressing their views on the occasion, Tope and Patil assured that efforts are being made to solve the problems of sugarcane growers and sugar factories, and laid emphasis on co-generation of ethanol along with setting up of new projects to get better price for sugarcane farmers. VKB SS 2021