Good news for the farmers. Government on 12th December has increased the Minimum Support Prices or MSPs of 22 Kharif and Rabi crops to a minimum of 50% returns over cost, informed the Agriculture Ministry. The government took the decision after considering the views and opinions of state governments.
The MSPs set by the government for many of these crops give at least a return of 50 % over production cost for the year 2018-19.
Minister of State for Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, “Government has increased the Minimum Support Prices considerably for all mandated crops for the 2018-19 season. The decision was a historic one because it fulfills the commitment to the farmers to offer 50% return over cost of production for the first time for all mandated crops”.
The MSP for Kharif crops like paddy has been raised from Rs 1550 - Rs 1750. For Jowar it is Rs 1700 - Rs 2430 (the highest). MSP of Bajra from Rs 1425 to Rs 1950, Cotton from Rs 4020 to Rs 5150, Moong from Rs 5575 to Rs 6975 and Arhar from Rs 5450 to Rs 5675.
For Rabi crops the hike is only marginal as all of the mandated crops already have an MSP which provides returns of more than 50% over the cost except Safflower which provides 31.2% returns over cost to the growers. Now after the modification in MSP, the returns of Safflower has been increased to Rs 4945 giving 50.1% returns to farmers.
MSPs of these crops have been increased after considering the rise in production costs like labour, land rent, seeds, fertilizers, electricity and so on.
Also, the Fair and Remunerative Prices (FRP) for Sugarcane has been increased from Rs 255 to Rs 275.
