New Delhi: In a move aimed at encouraging farmers, the Centre on Wednesday approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all mandated kharif crops for marketing season 2021-22.
The decision in this regard was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As per the Cabinet decision, the MSP of paddy has been increased by Rs 72 per quintal and with this paddy can be now procured at not less than Rs 1,940 per quintal in 2021-22 from its earlier MSP of Rs 1,868 per quintal in 2020-21.
The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for sesamum (Rs 452 per quintal) followed by tur and urad (Rs 300 per quintal each), said Union Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar at a press briefing in New Delhi.
The increase comes during ongoing farmers' protest against three controversial farm laws passed last year.
"In case of groundnut and nigerseed, there has been an increase of Rs 275 per quintal and Rs 235 per quintal respectively in comparison to last year. The differential remuneration is aimed at encouraging crop diversification," the ministry said in a statement.
"The increase in MSP for kharif crops for marketing season 2021-22 is in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the All-India weighted average Cost of Production (CoP), aiming at reasonably fair remuneration for the farmers," it said, adding that the expected returns to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of Bajra (85 per cent) followed by urad (65 per cent) and tur (62 per cent). "For rest of the crops, return to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be at least 50 per cent," the ministry said in a statement.
Concerted efforts were made over the last few years to realign the MSPs in favour of oilseeds, pulses, and coarse cereals to encourage farmers to shift to a larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies and farm practices, to correct demand-supply imbalance, it said, adding that the added focus on nutri-rich nutri-cereals is to incentivise its production in the areas where rice-wheat cannot be grown without long-term adverse implications for groundwater table.
Reacting to the hike in MSP, Bharatiya Kisan Union's Dharmendra Malik said: "The hike in MSP by the government is the biggest joke of support price as only Rs 20 has been increased in the MSP of some key crops like maize, while MSP of some of those crops has been increased that hardly plays any role in inflation. If we talk about pulses, there is no point in declaring MSP as farmer never gets the support price and their crops are "looted" in the market.
"If the government is really concerned about protecting the interests of farmers, the Centre must repeal all the three agricultural laws brought recently and make MSP a law," he said.