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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | MSP -- Unfair to farmers in food bowl states -Manjit S Kang

MSP -- Unfair to farmers in food bowl states -Manjit S Kang

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published Published on Jul 12, 2018   modified Modified on Jul 12, 2018
-The Tribune

The input costs of only chosen farmers are considered to decide the MSP. This is unfair to the farmers of the 'Granary of India' as their input costs are much higher than those of farmers from the rest of the country.

In the Indian system, farmers are the only 'businessmen' who cannot set their own price for their products —foodgrains. Even a 'rehrhi-wala' sets his own price daily for whatever he sells, but farmers cannot do so.  They have been lulled by the Central government into accepting whatever price the government decides to give them. For the sake of food security, the Central government decided to purchase the two main food staples of India's majority of people — wheat and paddy — at a minimum support price (MSP) for each commodity.

The MSP has been increasing only incrementally, barely to keep pace with inflation. For example, the MSP offered for wheat in 2007-08 was Rs 850 per quintal, which went up by Rs 150 the following year and by another Rs 80 in 2009-10. The figures for 2016-17 and 2017-18 were Rs 1525 and Rs 1625, respectively. For paddy (common), the government offered an MSP of Rs 1470 per quintal in 2016-17 and Rs 1550 in 2017-18 — a mere raise of Rs 80. The comparative figures for grade A paddy were Rs 1,510 (for 2016-17) and Rs 1,590 (for 2017-18). The ruling party at the Centre does play politics once in a while. For example, the paddy (common) MSP has been increased by Rs 200 for 2018-19 (Rs 1,750) and that for grade A by Rs 180 (Rs 1,770), in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

Politics aside, the MSP is grossly unfair to the farmers of Punjab, Haryana, and western UP — that are dubbed as the 'Food Bowl States' or the 'Granary of India'. This is so because input costs of only chosen farmers from around the entire country are averaged to decide on the  MSP. Input costs of farmers in the food bowl states are much higher than those of farmers from the rest of the country. Farmer union leaders, such as Ajmer Singh Lakhowal and Balbir Singh Rajewal, have, from time to time, protested this system of computing the MSP, pointing out that the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) had not taken into consideration increased input costs for diesel, labour and fertilisers of this region.

Double whammy with spurious pesticides

Now, in the era of GST, there is an 18 per cent surcharge on agro-chemicals, be they real or spurious! According to the estimate by the Tata Strategic Management Group, annually Rs 2,500 crore worth of spurious chemicals are sold in India. Farmers are hit with a double whammy because the spurious agro-chemicals are ineffective and costly, and cause farmers to suffer significant yield losses. No MSP can compensate for these losses.

Dangers of exploitative agriculture

For food security purposes, the government purchases only wheat and paddy, which is responsible for establishing the rice-wheat cropping pattern and consequent depletion of groundwater resources in the food bowl states. This has happened, in addition to water depletion, at the expense of crop diversification and soil health.  While addressing the Indian Science Congress at Varanasi in 1968, Prof MS Swaminathan warned about such a system, saying, "Exploitative agriculture offers great dangers if carried out with only an immediate profit or production motive. The emerging exploitative farming community in India should become aware of this.  Intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil fertility and soil structure would ultimately lead to the springing up of deserts."  This is so true of the current situation in Punjab, where the adoption of the rice-wheat monoculture has caused an ecological crisis of great proportions.

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The Tribune, 10 July, 2018, http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/msp-unfair-to-farmers-in-food-bowl-states/617908.html


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