The Congress party on Friday in its election manifesto unveiled on Friday promised to provide “legal guarantee” to the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for crops as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. It also promised to set up a Permanent Commission on Agricultural Finance if elected to power, with mandate to report periodically on the extent of agricultural credit and “the need for loan forbearance.”
Currently, MSP is declared for as many as 23 crops, while procurement is more robust for paddy and wheat, while pulses purchases have in recent years witnessed some increase.
The MSP value of all these 23 crops are currently estimated at Rs 10 trillion annually. Several experts have stated that a legal guarantee for purchase of the crops covered under the MSP regime is unrealistic, citing the huge costs.
Various farmers organisations have been demanding legal guarantee for MSPs which the government announces annually on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The congress also said it would make CACP a statutory body.
MS Swaminathan, noted agricultural scientist, in his report in 2006 had recommended that the MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average of cost production also (referred as C2+50% formula). This formula includes inputs cost of capital and rent on the land, to provided the farmers with 50% returns
However since 2018-19, the NDA government adopted the policy of MSPs to ensure at least 50% profits over computed cost of production of crops (A2+FL).
Last month, the Narendra Modi government had assured agitating farmers that it will procure maize, cotton and pulses varieties – arhar, urad and masoor – at the MSP not just from farmers in Punjab but from across the country for the next five years. The offer was subject to the condition that farmers diversify from water-intensive paddy cultivation. The agitating farmers refused the offer.
The Congress party manifesto also stated that CACP, which recommends MSP for 23 odd crops, will be made a statutory body. It also stated that MSP payable to the farmer at the procurement centres and markets will be directly credited digitally to the bank account of the farmers.
The manifesto also stated that the farmers have the freedom to sell agricultural produce at the farm-gate or at any other place of choice with an option to upload the sale-and-purchase agreement on a digital ledger. “We will establish farmers’ retail markets in large villages and small towns to enable the farmers to bring their produce and sell the same to consumers,” according to manifesto ‘Nyay Patra’.
The party has also promised to increase the wage under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to Rs 400/day, from the current level of Rs 234-Rs 356/day.
