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Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has told the Lok Sabha said that minimum support price (MSP) of six Rabi crops has been increased. The increase came a day after two agriculture-related bills were passed by parliament.
He said MSP of wheat was hiked by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 1,975 per quintal. The minister said that the NatioDA government has been implementing the Swaminathan Committee recommendation to provide farmers price at 1.5 times of production cost.
“After the Parliament passed historic agriculture bills, today some important decisions were taken regarding an increase in MSP. Before the sowing of Rabi crops, today, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the MSP of six Rabi crops,” the minister said.
“After an increase of Rs 50, MSP of wheat is now Rs 1,975 per quintal. MSP of chana (gram) has been hiked by Rs 225 per quintal to Rs 5,100. MSP of masoor (lentil) has been fixed at Rs 5,100 per quintal after an increase Rs 300. MSP of sarson (mustard) has been increased by Rs 200 to Rs 4050 per quintal. MSP of barley has increased by Rs 75 Rs to Rs 1600 per quintal. After an increase of Rs 112, MSP of safflower is now Rs 5,327 per quintal,” he said.
Lauding the passage of agriculture bills in Parliament, Tomar said that the MSP and APMCs will continue.
“Congress was saying that MSP and APMC will end. I had said that MSP and APMC will continue. Farmers are also free to sell their produce anywhere outside APMC,” he said.
He said that Rs 7 lakh crore were paid to farmers as the MSP payment in the last six years which was almost double than that of the corresponding period during the United Progressive Alliance regime.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 amid opposition protest in the Rajya Sabha.
The bills were earlier passed by Lok Sabha. The opposition parties have been alleging that MSP will be impacted due to the bills.
