Centre increases MSP for Kharif crops, paddy support price hiked by Rs 72 per quintal

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 9

The Centre on Wednesday increased the Minimum Support Price of all mandated Kharif crops for marketing season 2021-22.

The price of common grade paddy has been increased from Rs 1,868 a quintal to Rs 1,940 a quintal, a rise of Rs 72 a quintal. For grade A the support price has been increased from Rs 1,888 a quintal to Rs 1,960 a quintal, again an increase of Rs 72 per quintal.

Elaborating the decisions by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Centre always said that the MSP will remain and the increase in support prices for Kharif crops is proof of that commitment.

Read also: Differences between farmers and govt over farm laws can be resolved by talks: SS Johl

The expected returns to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in the 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%, he said. The cost of production for common grade paddy is Rs 1,293 a quintal, Tomar said, adding that the farmers will be getting a return of over 50% over the cost of production for 2021-22, which is Rs 1,293 a quintal.

“The government has increased the MSP of Kharif crops to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce. 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,” he said. 

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). In the 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, he said.

Regarding the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the three central farm laws, Tomar said the Modi government will remain committed to the betterment of farmers.

“We always said the MSP was there and will remain,” he said.

“All political parties wanted to bring the farm laws but could not,” he added.

“The Narendra Modi government is committed to farmers. It is because of our commitment and respect for farmers that we held 11 rounds of talks with union leaders and offered them several alternatives, including putting on hold the laws for one-and-a-half years.

“The government is always ready for talks with the unions. We have always said if there are issues with some provisions, unions should explain with reasons and suggest alternatives, which they could not. There are no shortcomings in the laws still we gave them alternatives but they did not agree,” the Agriculture Minister said.

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