-The Hindu Business Line The MSP for many crops is already 1.5 times cost; and procurement is either absent or very minimal except for paddy and wheat There has been much speculation on the Budget promise to farmers of 50 per cent return on cost of production. But this may not help farmers much, as many crops already enjoy 50 per cent profit at minimum support price (MSP), according to the price...

-The Indian Express Curbing stubble burning is about inducing behavioural changes in farmers. Given that crop residue burning has an environmental footprint and poses health hazards, one needs to be cautious while evaluating the Centre’s policy to mitigate the crisis. But there is also an urgent need for such an evaluation. The Centre has allocated Rs 1,050 crore to the states where crop residue burning poses a pollution hazard. The Union Ministry...

-The Indian Express The main problem for farmers today is not production or having sufficient crop to sell. Instead, it has to do with prices that they are getting for their produce. The Met Department has forecast a third-in-a-row “normal” south-west monsoon this year, thanks to the very low probability of an El Nino event — the abnormal warming of the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean waters, which is known to adversely impact...

-Financial Express If the government implements the assured minimum support price at one and a half times the production cost, as promised, it would jack up consumer prices of jowar and distort the market dynamics of the “poor man’s cereal”. Besides, the measure would also dampen exports, analysts warn. At 150% of the cost (A2+FL), the MSP for jowar for the next season could be at least 37% higher than the...

-The Indian Express Schemes to ensure that farmers get fair returns will come a croppper unless trade and tariffs are synced with minimum support prices. With farm prices of several commodities falling way below their minimum support prices (MSPs) in 2016-17 and 2017-18, farmers have been under increasing stress. The Centre and several state governments are searching for ways and means to support farmers. In his recent address (Mann ki Baat), the...