Modest increase in kharif MSP

Amidst protests by farmers all over the country demanding higher minimum support prices (MSP) for their produce, the Centre has quietly has announced new floor rates for 14 kharif crops for 2017-18. However, the rates are only marginally higher than those of the previous season.

Agitating farmers have been demanding that the government fix MSP at a rate that is 50 per cent over and above the cost of cultivation. But the new MSPs announced for paddy, coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds and cotton are just enough to cover annual inflation, the figures indicated.

The MSP for paddy common for 2017-18, for instance, was hiked to ₹1,550 per quintal from ₹1,470 per quintal last season. Similarly, the MSP of paddy grade A moved up to ₹1,590 from ₹1,510 per quintal in 2016-17. The MSP of most pulses and oilseeds, however, looked slightly impressive as the government announced a bonus ranging between ₹200 and ₹100 per quintal on these crops in order to attract farmers to cultivate them as demand always outstrips the supply for these. The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the farmer organisation affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said in a statement that for the majority of the crops the MSP fixed was lower than the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices’ own calculation of cost of production.

“The BJP government has made a mockery of the peasantry by announcing the MSP of kharif crops for 2017-18, which is even below the cost of production,” an AIKS statement said.

Any MSP announced is only notional unless there is an assured procurement at that price across the country through a network of purchasing centres, AIKS said.

Secondly, the calculation of cost of production itself is disputed and uses data with a time lag of three years, it said. The calculations by State Governments are much higher than calculations made by CACP and closer to calculations by farmers, it argued.

Meanwhile, the Congress alleged that the Centre was working for a kisan-mukt Bharat. “The BJP government came to power in 2014 by promising to give 50 per cent as against the cost incurred during production. But the MSP for crops is not increasing. This is because there is a gap between assurances and acts of the government. This is an anti-farmer government that wants a ‘ kisan mukt bharat’ (India without farmers),” Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters on Monday.

He said the UPA regime was far better for the farmers and that growth of the agriculture sector had taken a hit since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power.

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