Farmers Movement Archive

Govt hikes kharif MSPs amid farm stir

NEW DELHI: With the Centre having emphasised its commitment to minimum support prices (MSP) in the face of an agitation by farm unions against the central farm laws, the Union cabinet on Wednesday announced new support prices for 14 kharif (summer sown) crops with boosts to oilseeds, pulses and less water-consuming nutri-cereals such as Bajra and Jowar. The MSP of most popular crop paddy got a modest hike of Rs 72 per quintal for 2021-22 marketing season compared to the previous year while the highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year was for sesamum, a nutritional oil seed, of Rs 452 per quintal, followed by tur and urad dals (Rs 300 per quintal each). The expected returns to farmers over their cost of production will, however, be highest in case of bajra (85%), followed by urad (65%) and tur (62%). For the rest of the crops, return to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be at least 50%, as has been the policy of the government. The announcement comes at the heels of a Rs 76,000 crore procurement at the end of the Rabi season, which included Rs 26,000 crore direct payment to Punjab farmers without being routed through arthiyas (market middlemen). Asked about possibility of resuming talks with farm unions, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and west UP, who are demanding repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee to MSP, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the government is ready for discussion while adhering to the proposal of keeping implementation of laws on hold for 18 months and discussion on all the issues by a committee during the period to arrive at a solution. The overall hike, approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, is in sync with the government’s plan to encourage farmers to go for coarse cereals (nutri-cereals), oilseeds and pulses in a big way by moving away from water-guzzling paddy. “Concerted efforts were made over the last few years to realign the MSPs in favour of oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals to encourage farmers shift to larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies and farm practices, to correct demand-supply imbalance,” said Tomar while announcing the Cabinet’s decision. On MSP, Tomar noted that the increase has been consistent with the government’s move to fix the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times (50% return over cost) of the all-India weighted average Cost of Production (CoP). Farm activists, however, said it’s still not in tune with what the farmers have been demanding. They said the cost comprising the imputed rent and interest on owned land – known as C2 – was not taken to arrive at the new MSP. “In a crop like maize, the increase is as low as Rs 20 per quintal, compared to last year. The absolute increase across different crops does not even match inflation rate,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, farmers’ rights activist and convenor of Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). She said these MSPs are meaningless unless all farmers actually get them and that’s where the demand for a legal guarantee to procurement at MSP comes in. Sudhir Panwar, farm expert and Lucknow University professor, noted that the MSP hike is not in tune with the increase in input cost such as diesel in the past one year. “Announcement of MSPs without factoring in the actual cost of different farm inputs is a joke,” said Panwar while referring to the modest hike in support price of maize and paddy. In order to increase the acreage of oilseeds, the agriculture ministry has recently approved an ambitious plan for the free distribution of high-yielding varieties of seeds to the farmers for this Kharif season in the form of mini-kits. The special Kharif programme is expected to bring an additional 6.37 lakh hectare area under oilseeds. It is likely to produce 120.26 lakh quintals of oilseeds, amounting to 24.36 lakh quintals of edible oil. Besides, in order to attain self-sufficiency in the production of pulses, a special Kharif strategy has been prepared for implementation in the ensuing Kharif 2021 season. “A detailed plan for both area expansion and productivity enhancement for Tur, Moong, and Urad has been formulated. Under the strategy, all the available high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds will be distributed free of cost to increase acreage under pulses,” said the minister.

The Times of India

2021-06-10

India