Budget 2019: Good news for farmers, Modi government mulling to address MSP issue

After receiving an number of grievances over the Minimum Support Price (MSP) from the farmer's associations, the Narendra Modi government is planning to address this issue when the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stands to present his budget on February 1. The government is planning to give farmers their balance of the MSP if they are forced to sell their crop below MSP in the local mandi. In fact, the core committee has also recommended increasing the number of commodities into the list of MSP. Currently, it stands at 25 commodities.

Farmer activist Krishnveer Chaudhary — who is a member of the core committee on Agriculture at Niti Aayog — told Zee Business online, "Ever since its implementation in 1967, the idea of MSP is an utter failure and government of Indian is fully aware of it.

So, core committee on agriculture at the Niti Aayog has recommended the government of Indian to pare the losses incurred by the farmers after selling their crops below MSP." Chaudhary said that we have submitted this proposal to the secretary agriculture and expecting a positive response from the government in this regard.

The farmers will have to submit their sales slip at mandi before the government and in return, GoI would transfer the balance payment into their bank account directly. 

"There is also a demand from the farmers to increase the number of commodities into the MSP list as it doesn't include potato, onion, milk, and tomato — products for which consumers are paying a hefty price in the retail market while producing farmers are still not able to get even 35 percent of it," said  Krishnveer Chaudhary of the Niti Aayog.

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The farmers are demanding guaranteed return in these agriculture products because it can't be stored for long and the majority of the farmers doesn't have the storage facility or affordability.

In fact, they want the listing of horticulture products too into the MSP list.