Urban Mirror

Urban Mirror Correspondent

New Delhi, July 5: With an eye on 2019 Lok Sabha elections the NDA government has announced to increase the minimum support prices (MSPs) of paddy and other farm produces to address the agrarian crisis in the country. The central government had announced in its annual budget earlier this year to double the income of the farmers by enhancing the MSPs. Thus the MSP of Kharif (monsoon) paddy crops has been increased by Rs 200 from Rs 1550 to Rs 1750 per quintal. Similarly prices of other commodities have been increased.

However the moot question is whether this decision will solve the problems of the farmers in the country. There have been annual increase in MSPs over the years but it hardly helped in solving the problems of the farmers, who have been agitating all over the country on various issues. Apart from natural reasons, the problem of agrarian sector has been government’s own failure in acknowledging the distress and its own flawed approach to resolving the crisis. Successive governments over the years have just resorted to politicking in the matter for political gains.

Thus reacting to Wednesday’s announcement the Lok Gathbandhan Party today said that just increasing the minimum support price of farm produce could not solve the agrarian crisis in the country. The LGP, headed by former Secretary Government of India, Vijay Shankar Pandey,   said it required multi-pronged approach to improve the lot of distressed farming community in the country. The party said such approach cannot be panacea to farmers woes.  

The spokesman of the party said here on Thursday that doubling the income through MSP is a lopsided approach, as it played very limited role in addressing growing crisis in entire farm sector. The spokesman said that the agriculture sector crises is deeper which could not be just solved by such government’s decisions. The spokesman said less than one-fourth of the country’s cereal production is procured at MSP and mismanagement at procurement centres over the years have demonstrated that farmers preferred market to these government controlled places, where irregularities are galore. The central and state governments despite making tall claims never bothered to improve services at these centres.

Pointing out that of late horticulture production has surpassed foodgrains production in the country, the spokesman said there is no MSP coverage for fruits and vegetables, which is major drawback in the system. The spokesman expressed surprise that the central government never paid attention to this vast segment of farmers involved in horticulture. The spokesman said that limited and extremely skewed procurement of rice and wheat is from Punjab, Haryana and UP and according to a report of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) less than half of all farmers are aware of MSPs. The LGP said it has been observed over the years that only a fraction of those who are aware of MSPs actually sell their crops to procurement agencies. The LGP said farmers who are always in need of cash at the time of crops rush to market than to queue up at the procurement centres. The spokesman said thus MSP policy has never been holistic and remunerative for the farmers and if it is to be made attractive it required hike compared to present levels of cost input.     

The spokesman said, while the LGP is concerned about the lasting solution to farmers problems, other political parties are only interested in politicking and short-term populist measures, which would not defuse the crisis. The party said there was an urgent need to devise policies to enhance overall farm income and pave way for non-farm jobs in rural sector. It would also help in stopping migration to urban centers. The party said structural bottlenecks must be removed in farm economy on a priority basis.