MSP hike can’t be state specific, says Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
By Express News Service | Published: 04th March 2018 02:00 AM |
Last Updated: 04th March 2018 06:46 AM | A+A A- |
State BJP activists celebrating the party’s victory in the Northeastern states in Bhubaneswar on Saturday | Express
BHUBANESWAR: As the State Government is at loggerheads with the Centre over minimum support price (MSP) hike for paddy, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday said such a hike for food grain cannot be State specific.
The Union Minister, who had rejected the State’s demand earlier, said reduction in input cost through subsidy is the solution to reduce burden and improve the income of farmers. “Reducing the input costs can be the way to lessen the burden on farmers. Income of farmers can be increased by providing them quality seeds and other inputs at subsidised rates,” said Shekhawat at a function of a private TV channel here.
The Union Minister further said such a move will not help as the input cost for farming is going up proportionately every year. “If we increase the MSP our agricultural produce will not be able to compete in the international markets,” he said.
It is the joint responsibility of the State and the Centre to ensure that the farmers get right price for their produce, he said and added that collaboration between the two governments is necessary to double the farmers’ income by 2022 as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier, Sekhawat had said there was no proposal to revise the MSP on paddy for the current kharif marketing season. According to the Centre, a farmer makes a profit of Rs 433 with the existing MSP of `1,550 per quintal. As per its cost analysis, production cost of paddy comes to around `1,117 per quintal.
Claiming that the cost of production of a quintal of paddy is Rs 2,344, the State Government has been urging the Centre to increase the MSP to Rs 2,930.
