-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Moving to fulfil its budget promise and address political heat over farmer discontent, the government is set to announce a new minimum support price (MSP) regime that will provide farmers a profit margin of 50% over cost of production. The additional bill is likely to be around Rs 33,500 crore. The new MSP, to be considered by the cabinet on Wednesday, will largely apply to paddy...
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Farm support prices come with hidden costs -Ashima Goyal
-The Hindu Business Line In view of the distortions arising out of excessive price support, direct income transfers to farmers is a better option The domestic debate has tended to conclude that the rise in MSP announced in the Budget is an essential part of achieving the government’s objective of doubling farm incomes. But MSP stands for minimum support prices and is an instrument designed for reducing income volatility, not for raising...
More »The seeds of sustainability -Sujatha Byravan
-The Hindu How Zero Budget Natural Farming could be the model for the future In early June, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the State would fully embrace Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), a chemical-free method that would cover all farmers by 2024. Earlier in the year, he had revealed these plans at the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Even though this revolution has been in the...
More »India has not published data on farmer suicides for the last two years -Abhishek Dey
-Scroll.in National Crime Records Bureau director Ish Kumar said that the data is under scrutiny and the report for 2016 is likely to be published later in June. The suicide of several farmers across India in the past month has put the spotlight on an issue that has plagued the country for several years. In May, at least six farmers committed suicide in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, reportedly for reasons that...
More »Pieces of a market -Ashok Gulati & Shweta Saini
-The Indian Express A single national agriculture market, promised by the BJP in its 2014 manifesto, remains a pipe dream. Can the government reform the broken APMC structure in the last year of its term? In its 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto, the BJP promised to evolve a single national agriculture market (NAM) in the country with a view to enable farmers to get a better price and consumers to pay a...
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