To woo distressed farmers ahead of 2019 general polls, the Narendra Modi Cabinet may announce hike in minimum support price (MSP) this week for key agricultural commodities like cotton, pulses, cereals and oil seeds by 150 per cent as promised five months ago by Arun Jaitley in his Union Budget speech.
To woo distressed farmers ahead of 2019 general polls, the Narendra Modi Cabinet may announce hike in minimum support price (MSP) this week for key agricultural commodities like cotton, pulses, cereals and oil seeds by 150 per cent as promised five months ago by Arun Jaitley in his Union Budget speech. According to some earlier reports, the government also plans to announce a sharp rise in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy, the key kharif crop, by Rs 200 to Rs 1,750 per quintal for the 2018-19 crop year. This pro-farmer moves coincide with the sowing season of Kharif crops.
ET Now learns a high level committee made up of officials from the Agriculture Ministry and Food Ministry has sent its proposal on the MSP hike to the Cabinet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week announced that the Cabinet will approve the hike in MSP to at least 1.5 times of the production cost in the forthcoming meeting.
“The Prime Minister announced that the Union Cabinet would approve the implementation of Minimum Support Price of 150% of the input cost, in its forthcoming meeting, for the notified crops of Kharif season 2018-19. This would ensure a significant boost to the income of farmers,” Modi said in an interaction with 140 farmers who had come to Delhi from UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Centre would also recommend a sugarcane price within two weeks and that states had been asked to make sure that farmers are paid their dues for cane already sold to mills, PMO had said.
Farmers have been anxiously waiting for the promised increase in the MSP, which gives them an assurance of the price at which they sell their produce and helps them decide which crop would be the most suitable for them to plant.
ET Now learns a high level committee made up of officials from the Agriculture Ministry and Food Ministry has sent its proposal on the MSP hike to the Cabinet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week announced that the Cabinet will approve the hike in MSP to at least 1.5 times of the production cost in the forthcoming meeting.
“The Prime Minister announced that the Union Cabinet would approve the implementation of Minimum Support Price of 150% of the input cost, in its forthcoming meeting, for the notified crops of Kharif season 2018-19. This would ensure a significant boost to the income of farmers,” Modi said in an interaction with 140 farmers who had come to Delhi from UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Centre would also recommend a sugarcane price within two weeks and that states had been asked to make sure that farmers are paid their dues for cane already sold to mills, PMO had said.
Farmers have been anxiously waiting for the promised increase in the MSP, which gives them an assurance of the price at which they sell their produce and helps them decide which crop would be the most suitable for them to plant.