Comments
If the Central government wants to implement a price deficiency payment scheme, as proposed in Budget 2018, to help farmers, it may need to shell out around ₹25,000 crore, according to Hetal Gandhi, Director, Crisil Research.
Under a Price Deficiency Payment programme — Madhya Pradesh’s Bhavantar Bhugtan scheme is an example — farmers are paid the difference between the government-announced minimum support price (MSP) and the actual market price.
Gandhi, participating in a panel discussion at The Pulses Conclave–2018, organised by the India Pulses and Grains Association here on Thursday, said she arrived at this estimate after taking into account all 15 kharif and rabi crops for which the government has announced an MSP. “I used last year’s production numbers, average mandi prices and MSP for the calculation,” Gandhi said.
With regard to pulses, she said the farmers would not benefit much from a higher MSP as less than 5 per cent of the output is procured by government agencies.
She said it would be better for the government to invest more in infrastructure, particularly on irrigation and warehousing.
Similarly, India, which has trade agreements with many countries, should manage its export-import restrictions in a better manner, she said. “There is nothing wrong in having trade regulations to protect the interests of farmers and consumers. But they should be done in a time-bound manner, so that the partner countries have clarity on such issues,” Gandhi said. She cited the example of Iran, which banned rice imports from India for a specific period and lifted the restriction subsequently.
Nirav Desai, director of Mumbai-based Nikhil Commodities and Derivatives, stressed on the need to have a market intelligence unit at the Agriculture Ministry. Such a unit can help the Centre ascertain its export and import requirements, he said.
According to Desai, MP’s Yojana has been good for both farmers as well as consumers. As the money is going directly to the farmers, there is no leakage of funds, he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.