100 hike in paddy MSP not sufficient, says BJD

Bhubaneswar: A day after the Centre approved the new minimum support price (MSP) of various crops, including paddy for the forthcoming kharif season, the ruling BJD on Thursday said the amount is not sufficient for farmers. Even as the Centre has fixed the MSP of the common variety paddy at Rs 2,040 a quintal for 2022-23, which is a hike of Rs 100 a quintal, the BJD reiterated its demand to fix the MSP at Rs 2,930 a quintal.
The legislative assembly unanimously passed a resolution on March 25, 2017 recommending that the MSP of common paddy be increased to Rs 2,930 per quintal. “All MLAs, including those from BJP, Congress and BJD unanimously supported this. But even after five years of the resolution, the Centre has not implemented it,” said BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra at a news conference here.
The BJD spokesperson also reiterated the demand to implement the Swaminathan Committee report that recommended to implement the MSP at 1.5 times of the cost of production. It includes out of pocket expenses of a farmer, cost of the human labour and cost of land and the interest for loans taken by the farmer.
Agriculture minister Ranendra Pratap Swain also slammed the Centre over meagre hike in paddy MSP. Briefing reporters here, Swain said the hike of Rs 100 a quintal is not in accordance with the present rate of inflation.
He said the fight of BJD and the state will continue for welfare of the farmers.