Subsidy on maize seeds not encouraging, say farmers

Amritsar, June 22

Even as the government has announced a subsidy on maize seeds to increase area under its cultivation, these half-hearted measures will certainly fail to achieve the desired results as farmers are still preferring paddy over maize.

Considering the fact that maize is a low-yield crop as compared to paddy crop and it does not get an assured MSP, farmers will choose paddy crop sooner or later.

A comparison between rice and maize yield and prices reveals that the former is a better crop from all aspects. While the average yield of maize is merely 16 quintals per acre, the average yield of paddy is around 26 quintals per acre.

Further, the minimum support price for maize as announced by the Union Government is Rs 2,235 per quintal whereas it is Rs 2,300 per quintal. “Farmers cultivate maize mostly as fodder. Maize is not procured by the government, hence farmers never get an MSP on it,” said Gurnam Singh, a farmer. He said a subsidy of Rs 100 per kilo on maize seeds is not going to encourage farmers to increase its cultivation.

Satnam Singh, another farmer, said, “Farmers will stop cultivating paddy the day they will get a viable alternative. At present, farmers are getting an assured MSP on paddy and as such no other crop can take its place.” He said if the government is serious about decreasing area under paddy, it should also announce an MSP on some other crops and stop it on paddy.

Farmers say as the cultivation of maize requires eight kilo of seed, the government is practically giving an incentive of merely Rs 800 per acre. “If maize is to be made popular, the government must introduce high-yield varieties, besides a mechanism to ensure a better market price for it,” said Sahib Singh, a local farmer.