Members want fixed wage for marginalised farmers

New Delhi: Raising the issue of the plight of marginalised farmers, members belonging to different farmers’ groups have asked the government-constituted Committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) to consider fixing an ‘appropriate’ remuneration for all those cultivators having a small land holding.

The pertinent issue was discussed during the fourth meeting of the MSP Committee, which is headed by former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal. During the meeting, which was held on February 17 in the national capital, the representatives of farmers stressed that the labour cost of small landowners is not considered while fixing the MSP, which is done on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

The fourth meeting of the MSP panel turned out to be a workshop wherein members present were explained about the different modalities for calculating the MSP of different crops of Rabi and Kharif seasons.

As per sources, during the meeting, representatives of farmers suggested adoption of innovative procedures to fix the MSP of different crops. “The members suggested providing incentives to marginalized farmers on the lines of promoters of a company, who get a fixed salary as farmers having small land holding work round the year and in return they just get the MSP, which is not enough for them,” the sources said.

The members of farmers group also stressed on real time data collection of crops cultivation by adopting innovative procedures for MSP fixation, they said, adding that marginalized land owners should get a fixed remuneration apart from the MSP of their crops.

“Given that there is a huge gap in the cost of cultivation of wheat, the MSP should also be fixed by considering the climatic zone as wheat cultivation cost in Maharashtra is Rs 1725 and in Punjab, it is just Rs 825 in Punjab. So, under the given circumstances, the MSP on wheat for Maharashtra farmers is unjustified”, said a member, who was present in the meeting.

The members also asked the Committee to find out an innovative method for MSP fixation by keeping in mind the cultivation cost factor, the member added.

However, the members representing farmers’ group rejected the government’s idea of extensive natural farming citing that it contradicts the government’s own commitment as by adopting natural farming, India

can never become a global food supplier. They supported the judicious use of chemicals and fertilizers for better harvest of food grains.

Discussions were also held on introduction of better hybrid seeds for all the major crops, including cotton, and adoption of advanced biotechnology in agriculture to meet the global requirements of foodgrains.

The fifth meeting of the MSP Committee is scheduled to be held on March 20.