New Delhi, December 20
There was no move to do away with the Minimum Support Price (MSP) as suggested by the World Bank nor was there any move to privatise the Food Corporation of India, the government informed the Lok Sabha today.
“It is difficult to accept any such suggestion as no developing country could do it because it will jeopardize farmers’ interests.
We cannot accept such suggestions,” Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said during question hour.
He said all stocks of foodgrains offered by farmers at the purchase centres of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and conforming
to quality specifications were purchased at the MSP in a transparent manner.
Maintaining that there was no proposal to privatise FCI, Mr Pawar said consultant firm, Mckenzie, was doing a study to suggest improvements in its functioning.
Replying to questions, he said the direct payment system was in force in 216 FCI depots in the country whereas in other parts other labour systems, including contract labour, were in place.
He said the system of procurement of foodgrains, which was earlier done only from Punjab and Haryana, had now been extended to nine states including West Bengal.
Mr Pawar said the report of the joint group to study the improvement required in the existing crop insurance scheme would be submitted soon and improvements would be carried out on the basis of the recommendations of the report.
Meanwhile, the government said it was keeping a close watch on the impact of global warming on agriculture production.
Minister of State for Agriculture Kantilal Bhuria informed the House that the government was aware of the recent findings of the International Rice Research Institute indicating that an increase in global warming can lead to reduction in rice yields.
The study, done with limited data in Philippines, indicated that night temperature had slightly gone up in the past 15 years and this might have caused some reduction in rice yields. There are no such clear indications on the impact of this phenomenon on Indian rice yields.
The Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) has initiated a network programme involving 15 research institutes and state agricultural universities to study the impact of climatic changes on agriculture and to devise strategies to mitigate such adverse impact, Mr Bhuria said.
