Panel continues to work on MSP proposals: Union Agriculture Minister

Without making any commitment on the demand of farmers’ groups for a legalised Minimum Support Price (MSP), Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday (September 19, 2024) that the Narendra Modi government had procured much higher quantities of foodgrains and pulses than any government in the past.

Talking to reporters on the works carried out by his Ministry in the first 100 days of the third Narendra Modi government, Mr. Chouhan said the policies of the Centre would ensure remunerative prices for the produce of farmers.

Cabinet approves continuation of PM-AASHA to provide better prices to farmers

Mr. Chouhan said the committee set up by the Centre to look into the issue of legalised MSP has had 23 meetings so far. “The final report of the committee is awaited. The committee is working on the issue,” he said, adding that the report of the panel, headed by former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal, would be made public soon. The panel was constituted in 2022 after protests by farmers against three (since repealed) farm laws.

The Minister said the Centre had converged the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) scheme under the PM-AASHA scheme to serve farmers and consumers more efficiently.

“Now, the integrated scheme of PM AASHA will be implemented, wherein MSP operations will be implemented by the Agriculture Ministry and non-MSP operations will be implemented by the Consumer Affairs Ministry, which includes procurement from pre-registered farmers on the eSamridhi portal of NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) and eSamyukti portal of NCCF (National Co-operative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited),” the Minister said.

Mr. Chouhan said such steps would also motivate farmers to cultivate more and contribute to achieving self-sufficiency, leading to reduction in dependence on imports to meet domestic requirements. “The government has renewed and enhanced the existing guarantee to ₹45,000 crore for procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra at MSP from farmers. This will help in more procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra from farmers at MSP whenever prices fall below MSP in the market,” he said.

Mr. Chouhan added that the procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra at MSP under PSS (Price Support Scheme) will be on 25% of national production from the 2024-25 seasons onward, which would enable States to procure more of these crops at MSP from farmers for ensuring remunerative prices and preventing distress sale.

The Minister said he would hold weekly interactions with farmers and other stakeholders through a programme named ‘Kisan Samvad’. He said research was being conducted to popularise natural farming. The Minister also said genetically modified crops are a sensitive topic for the Centre. “The approval will be given after wider consultations,” he said, when asked about Bt cotton and Bt mustard.