Lok Sabha Question No. 3440 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-07
Subject: Remunerative Prices for Agricultural Produce
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Gurjeet Singh,Aujla, PONNUSAMY VENUGOPAL, ELUMALAI VELLAIGOUNDER, Adhikari Dibyendu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3440

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  7 TH  AUGUST, 2018

## REMUNERATIVE PRICES FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE

3440.  SHRI GURJEET SINGH AUJLA: DR. P. VENUGOPAL: SHRI V. ELUMALAI: SHRI DIBYENDU ADHIKARI:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE      ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं  किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããè

be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it  is  a  fact  that  the  Commission  for  Agricultural  Costs  and  Prices  has recommended that the Government should bring out a legislation which would give the legal rights to the farmers to sell their produce at remunerative prices, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether it is also true that the recent hike in the minimum support price for paddy and other crops announced by the Government is fraudulent and not at par with the criteria recommended by the Swaminathan Commission, if so, the details thereof along with the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  any  proposal  to  further  increase  the  minimum support  price  by  calculating  the  present  high  cultivation  cost,  price  of  fertilizers  and agricultural machinery cost, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  there  is  delay  in  procurement  of  crops  for  which  MSP  has  been announced recently, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government is aware about the farmers' stir for demanding waiver of farm loan and increase in MSP for farm produce along with milk subsidy per litre also, if so, the details thereof and the present average MSP paid by the Government for farm produce, State-wise; and
- (f) the details of the loss in economy due to the stir of farmers therefor along with the remedial measures taken by the Government thereon?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE एवं किसान िल्याण

‡ãðŠãäÓã ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ Àã·¾ã ½ãâ¨ããè ( SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a): Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) in its Price Policy report for Kharif  Crops  for  2018-19  season  has  suggested  bringing  a  legislation  conferring  on farmers  the  'Right  to  Sell  at  MSP'  to  instill  confidence  among  framers  so  that  their produce is not sold/ procured below Minimum Support Price (MSP) and farmers are not exploited by traders.

(b): National Commission on Farmers (NCF) headed by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan has recommended  that  the  MSP  should  be  at  least  50  percent  more  than  the  weighted average cost of production. However, when the National Policy for Farmers, 2007 was finalized, this recommendation of providing 50 per cent returns over cost of production was not included. Dr. (Shri) M. S. Swaminathan in his Report on NCF had discussed different dimensions of fixing MSPs, but while finalizing National Policy on Farmers, the then  Government  had  accepted  the  current  established  methods.  Government  has announced its historic decision on 04.07.2018 to fix MSP at a level of at least 150 per cent of the all India weighted average cost of production for kharif crops 2018-19 which redeems the promise made in the Union Budget for 2018-19.

(c): The  estimates  of  cost  of  cultivation/production  are  an  important  input  for  the recommendation  of  MSP  made  by  the  CACP.  These  are  carried  out  through  the Comprehensive  Scheme for  Studying  the  Cost  of  Cultivation  of  Principled  Crops,  by Directorate  of  Economics  and  Statistics,  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Cooperation. These estimates include all actual expenses in cash and kind incurred in production by the farmers, rent paid for leased in land, imputed value of family labour, interest value of owned  capital  assests  (excluding  land),  rental  value  of  owned  land  (net  of  land revenue),  depreciation  on  farm  implements  and  buildings  and  other  miscellaneous expenses. Further, CACP updates prices of different inputs like human labour, bullock labour, machine labour, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation charges/diesel prices, seeds etc. by a composite input price index (CIPI) based on latest data from different sources.

(d): As per the crop calendar, Kharif Crop sowing begins with the onset of south-west monsoon  and  harvesting  takes  place  in  September-October.  Therefore,  procurement would commence only in September 2018.

(e) & (f): From time to time,  some farmers and farmers' organizations have been agitating and making certain demands like increase in MSPs for agricultural crops, loan waiver and other agricultural policies.

Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh  had  organized  'Gaon  Bandh'  (Village  Strike) agitation from 1 st June to 10 th June, 2018 over demands including complete waiver of farm loans, implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations pertaining to fixation of Minimum Support Price for agricultural produce and guaranteed income of farmers.

The  procurement  and  sale  price  of  milk  are  decided  by  the  concerned  State Governments  in  consultation  with  State  Cooperative  Milk  Federations  based  on  the input  cost.  The  action  taken  by  Department  of  Animal  Husbandry,  Dairying  and Fisheries to manage the crisis include increase in the import duty of Whey Powder from 30% to 40% vide notification dated 27.03.2018; D/o Commerce vide notification dated 13.07.2018  has  allowed  10%  export  incentive  under  Merchandise  Export  from  India Scheme (MEIS) for  all  dairy  products;  advisory  to  all  the  States  to  include  supply  of milk/milk products of Cooperatives through Mid-day Meal Scheme, Anganwadis under Integrated  Child  Development  Scheme  (ICDS),  Health  schemes,  Tribal  Hostels  and Government/Institutional  canteen;  advise  to  all  State  Governments  and  State  Milk Federations to use Public Distribution System of State Governments to market surplus milk; the State Government of Bihar and Rajasthan issued order to provide milk powder to  children  of  Anganwadi  centres  under  ICDS;  State  Governments  of  Gujarat  and Maharashtra have announced to provide subsidy of Rs 50/Kg for skim Milk Powder; a scheme named 'Support to State Cooperative Dairy Federation' has been approved to provide  working  capital  loan  to  State  Cooperatives  and  Federations  with  a  corpus  of Rs.300 Crore.

Contd….3/-

-3-

MSP is determined for the country as a whole and not region or state-specific. Region-specific  MSPs  would  encourage  inefficient  production  and  would  not  only  go against  the  principle  of  comparative  advantage  in  producing  specific  crops  but  also against  the  need  for  development  of  a  national  market.  The  objective  is  to  promote regionally differentiated production strategy and  encourage  an  efficient state of agricultural production in the country. However, region specific parameters are kept in view by the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) while formulating price policy for agricultural commodities.

********