Beyond MSP hike

THE Union Government has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat by

Rs 150, raising it to Rs 2,275 per quintal for the 2024-25 rabi marketing season. This is the highest quantum of increase in MSP for any marketing season (rabi or kharif) since the Modi government came to power in 2014. The decision is particularly significant for poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which are among India’s top wheat-growing states. The MSP of five other rabi crops — gram, barley, lentil (masur), rapeseed-mustard seed and safflower — has also been hiked.

The enactment of three Central farm laws in 2020 had triggered fears among farmers that the government wanted to do away with the time-tested MSP regime. The laws were eventually scrapped after the year-long farmers’ agitation. Since then, the Centre has been consistently raising the MSP of various rabi and kharif crops in a bid to dispel doubts and apprehensions of the farming community. However, a key demand — legal guarantee of MSP — remains unaddressed.

Though MSP is supposed to be the minimum price at which foodgrains are purchased by government procurement agencies, it sometimes turns out to be the maximum that farmers manage to get. Most private traders or companies have no qualms about giving the toiling cultivators a raw deal. Public procurement is largely confined to a couple of crops (rice and wheat), even as very few states have a robust procurement system. In 2019-20, 85 per cent of India’s wheat procurement was from three states — Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. There is a dire need to ensure that the MSP regime benefits farmers across the country and also the growers of a wide range of crops, such as pulses and oilseeds. Crop diversification will remain a distant dream until all designated crops fetch farmers remunerative prices.