Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed Parliament on Tuesday that more than 2 crore farmers have benefitted from the government’s procurement of seven commodities at the MSP during the year 2019-20.
In the written reply to Lok Sabha, Tomar mentioned that it is difficult to assess the accurate number of farmers benefitting from MSP as the procurement is done by government agencies under various schemes.
Tomar said, “Besides, the overall market also responds to the declaration of MSP & government’s procurement operations which results in private procurement on or above MSP for various notified crops. Therefore, the accurate number of farmers benefitting from MSP declaration is difficult to assess.
Tomar added, “However, about 2,01,16,575 farmers benefitted from the federal government’s MSP procurement throughout 2019-20.”
And out of these, 1.24 have been paddy growers, 35.57 lakh wheat growers, 21.50 lakh cotton farmers, 11 lakh pulses growers, 8.42 lakh oilseed farmers, 3,744 jute growers, and 3,439 copra growers.
Tomar mentioned that after taking into account and forecasting the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP), the government declares MSP for 22 major agri-commodities of fair average quality (FAQ) each year in both the crop seasons.
Tomar also explained that the government extends price support for paddy and wheat through the FCI and state agencies. In this, whatever food-grains are offered by the farmers within the stipulated period & government pre-decided specifications, are purchased at MSP by the FCI for Central pool and state government agencies. And the subsidized food grains are supplied to needy ones under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and various government schemes.
Schemes under PM AASHA
Minister also talked about oilseeds, pulses, copra that are procured by the farmers at MSP as a part of Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) under Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan.
He said that cotton & jute are also procured by the government at MSP through the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and the Jute Corporation of India (JCI). For making effective procurement by the government agencies at MSP & providing maximum benefits to the farmers, procurement centers are opened by the state government agencies and central nodal bodies like NAFED and FCI after proper forecasting of production, marketable surplus, convenience of farmers and availability of other logistics such as storage and transportation.
