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Punjab, Haryana farmers meet PM over fertiliser rates
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 5
Punjab and Haryana farmers today took their woes regarding ‘low’ minimum support price (MSP) for paddy, cotton and maize and rising fertiliser prices to the Capital. They staged a dharna near Jantar Mantar and presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who, they said, promised to meet them again next week.

The farmers said that ever since fertiliser prices were decontrolled by the government, their cost had gone up by more than 80 per cent.

Asking the government to increase the paddy MSP according to the formula devised by Swaminathan Committee, they said Rs 80 per quintal hike in MSP from last year does not cover the cost incurred by farmers. “Labour cost has doubled in the last year,” they maintained.