– Dr. Rajendra Prasad Sharma
The Central Government has once again given a big relief to the farmers by announcing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of 16 crops including two varieties of paddy and jowar of Kharif crop. If seen, compared to a decade ago i.e. in 2010-11, the MSP has increased several times, and the cost of agriculture has also increased. Among Kharif crops, maximum MSP has been increased for Sesame by Rs.805 and Moong by Rs.803. It is also being said that whether paddy, jowar, bajra, ragi, maize, arhar, moong, urad, groundnut, sunflower, soyabean, sesame, ramtil and cotton, all the prices have been increased by more than 50 percent over the cost. Is. It can be considered a good thing that now before the sowing starts, the central government fixes the minimum support price of the crops i.e. the minimum rate of government procurement. Despite this, farmers’ organizations remain unhappy. The main reason for their unhappiness is that the purchase is not done properly in the market. It should be that no one should be able to do anything on government purchases.
If this type of arrangement is fixed in advance, then the food provider can get full benefit of MSP. In fact, the question is that when should government procurement start and of which commodity? Farmers face the most trouble to get the minimum price for Kharif food grains i.e. Bajra, Ragi, Maize etc. On stressing too much, the purchase of millet sometimes starts and sometimes it stops. The question is that when the government declares the MSP, then on the same day this system should also be ensured that the farmer gets the MSP amount declared by the government. For this he did not have to look at anyone. The reason for the important controversy during the farmer’s movements is regarding the guarantee of continuing the MSP system. The government has been claiming that the MSP system is not getting affected in any way. In fact, there is a special situation of controversy regarding the MSP system.
The minimum support price is announced by the government so that the farmers can get at least the full value of their cost. For the first time in the country, in 1966-67, the minimum support price was announced for the government procurement of wheat. The then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri constituted a committee for this on August 1, 1964 under the chairmanship of LK Jha. After this, the government took further steps to fix the minimum support price for other major crops. The minimum support price of agricultural commodities started being announced by the Central Government on the recommendation of CACP i.e. Commission for Agricultural Prices and Costs. Today the minimum support price of 23 crops is announced in the country. In this, the support price of 7 wheat, paddy etc. grain crops, 5 pulse crops, 7 oilseed crops and 4 cash crops is announced. In cash crops, the government purchase price of sugarcane is recommended by the Sugarcane Commission, then the purchase of sugarcane is also done directly by the sugarcane mills. Similarly, cotton is procured by CCI i.e. Cotton Corporation of India. Mainly food grains are procured through Food Corporation of India and pulses and oilseeds are procured by NAFED through state cooperatives and other procurement centres. The Kerala government has taken an initiative to provide major relief to the vegetable producing farmers by fixing the base price of 16 types of vegetables. Now the Haryana government is also taking steps towards fixing the base price of vegetables like Kerala.
There has also been a major emphasis on the implementation of the most popular recommendations of the MS Swaminathan Commission for the farmers. The MS Swaminathan Commission, in its recommendation in 2004, while suggesting a formula for declaring the minimum support price, suggested that the MSP be declared at least 50 percent more than the cost of production. While recommending the MSP, the CACP recommends the MSP of each crop after assessing the cost per hectare according to the crop in different parts of the country, other expenses during cultivation, storage conditions, availability abroad etc. Keeping in view the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission in 2004, the Central Government decided to declare a price of 50 percent more than the cost of production in 2018-19. It is also worth mentioning here that under the MIS i.e. Market Intervention Scheme, arrangements have been made by the Central and State Governments for the purchase of crops that do not come under the purview of MSP. Purchase of garlic, purchase of onion etc. is an example of this.
If the procurement system on MSP is analyzed in most of the states of the country, then till a few decades ago the situation was completely different. It is clear that the procurement of wheat and paddy has been done by the government on a large scale and the main reason for this has been the smooth operation of the distribution system under the public distribution system and control over the market. As far as other crops are concerned, the procurement of food grains in most of the states of the country has been done by the FCI through marketing federations of the states through cooperatives and the purchase of oilseeds and pulses by NAFED under the same arrangement. There was a time when Rajasthan was the major mustard producing state. Due to this, the need for purchase of MSP was often felt except for one year. Studying the market system, it was a general perception and reality that whenever the prices of any crop in the market started falling below the MSP, the marketing federations of the states announced a slight increase in the prices in the market immediately. . Similarly, at the time of starting the procurement on MSP, it was believed that with a maximum of 25 to 30 percent procurement, the price of that crop in the market would be equal to or more than the MSP, and the reality was that ten to 15 percent procurement would have taken place. In the existing mandis, the prices used to almost come around the MSP. But in the last decade, the situation has changed rapidly.
Believe it or not, it is true to a large extent that the participation of private buyers has now increased in the MSP procurement system. This allegation cannot be denied outright that by buying their crops from small farmers at low prices and selling them on MSP at purchase centers in their name, middlemen have started taking advantage of the same in the name of the farmer. This is the reason why such instances are common that in many places procurement of more than the total produce in that area is seen at MSP. In fact, like Punjab, Haryana etc., now in some places purchases are being made through others and the direct result of this interference can be seen in the form of complaints. The need at this time is that the central and state governments should make the MSP system full proof. Provision should be made for strict punishment for those who break the system.
(The author is a freelance commentator.)
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