Govt hikes paddy MSP

 
The government on June 09  increased the support price of paddy to the farmers by Rs 80 per quintal for the current Kharif season to encourage production and meet the requirement of the proposed National Food Security Act.

"The minimum support price (MSP) of paddy (common) has been fixed at Rs 1080/quintal and of paddy (grade A) at Rs 1,110/quintal, which represents an increase of Rs 80/quintal over the last years MSPs," said an official statement after the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) had recommended a paddy MSP of Rs 1,080/quintal and bonus of Rs 80/quintal to cover rising input costs by upto 64 per cent.

The Agriculture Ministry had proposed a total MSP of Rs 1,160/quintal. Sources said the ministry's proposal was not accepted, considering high food inflation at over 9 per cent.

The CCEA, however, felt that the bonus should be given to paddy farmers if export ban on rice remains, and that there is a need for enhancing procurement to meet the additional demand of foodgrains under the proposed law, sources added.

Apart from paddy, the government increased MSP of pulses by up to Rs 400 per quintal to cut the country's dependence on imports. Last year, the sharp hike in pulses MSP resulted in a record production of 17.29 million tonnes.

For the current Kharif season, the MSP of urad has been raised by Rs 400 to Rs 3,300/quintal, green gram (moong) by Rs 330 to Rs 3,500/quintal and tur by Rs 200 to Rs 3,200/quintal.

The MSP of cotton has been hiked by Rs 300 each for both medium and long staple length fibre to Rs 2,800/quintal and Rs 3,300/quintal, respectively.

The Kharif sowing has begun from June and the harvesting would start from October this year.

The support price for oilseeds has been increased by upto Rs 500 per quintal. The MSP of soyabean (black) and soyabean (yellow) has been increased by Rs 250 each to Rs 1,650 and Rs 1,690/quintal, respectively.

The MSP of groundnut-in-shell has been raised to Rs 2,700 from Rs 2,300/quintal, while that of sunflowerseed has been increased to Rs 2,800/quintal from Rs 2,350/quintal.

Among coarse cereals, the MSP of Jowar (Hybrid), Bajra and Maize each has been raised by Rs 100 per quintal and fixed at Rs 980 per quintal each.

India's foodgrain output reached a record at 235.88 million tonnes in the 2010-11 crop year (July-June) and the increase in MSP will further boost the output this year if monsoon remains favourable.

The government needs 70 million tonnes of rice/wheat to meet the demand of the proposed National Food Security Act under which the Centre plans to give legal rights on subsidised food to about 70 per cent of the country's population.

For pulses growing farmers, the government will continue to provide an additional incentive of Rs 500 per quintal for tur, urad and moong sold to its procurement agencies during the harvest/arrival period of two months.