Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Addressing agrarian distress: An alternative 'area planning' price support scheme for farmers -Sher Singh Sangwan

Addressing agrarian distress: An alternative 'area planning' price support scheme for farmers -Sher Singh Sangwan

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jan 18, 2019   modified Modified on Jan 19, 2019
-The Indian Express

The existing MSP-based procurement system is fiscally unsustainable. The time has come to consider market intelligence-based regulation of crop production

Farmers are always in distress when prices of their produce are subdued. The response of governments, obviously prompted by political pressures, has been to sharply hike minimum support prices (MSP) of crops or declare loan waivers.

Thus, the current government at the Centre has significantly raised the MSPs of both the kharif and rabi crops for 2018-19, while claiming to have implemented the ruling party’s 2014 election promise of pegging these at 1.5 times the estimated production costs of farmers. State governments, whether ruled by the BJP or the Opposition, have similarly unveiled loan waiver packages. Some like Telangana, Jharkhand and Odisha have announced flat annual assistance to farmers, either on a per-acre or per-family/household basis.

None of these quick-fix solutions to address agrarian distress have really worked on the ground. Even if they have — such as Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu per-acre assistance scheme — the fiscal costs make them difficult to sustain in the long run. MSPs and loan waivers, on the other hand, haven’t probably even achieved their political objectives. There are enough reports showing market prices of most crops to be ruling way below the latest MSPs. In sugarcane, the current 2018-19 season marks the first ever, where mills are struggling to pay even the Centre’s “fair and remunerative price” to growers, leave alone the higher “advised” rates fixed by states such as Uttar Pradesh. Loan waiver implementation, likewise, has seen much less-than-expected coverage of farmers, besides restrictions on the write-off amounts (not more than Rs 1-2 lakh) and the institutions to whom credit is outstanding (mostly cooperative banks).

The above farm distress and inability to sufficiently mitigate has entirely to do with prices. Higher MSPs have little meaning when market supply-and-demand conditions and lack of government procurement do not allow for their effective enforcement.

Please click here to read more.

The Indian Express, 17 January, 2019, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/addressing-agrarian-distress-an-alternative-area-planning-price-support-scheme-for-farmers-5542002/


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close