Lok Sabha Question No. 397 (STARRED), answered on 2019-01-08
Subject: Swaminathan Committee Recommendation
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: BALABHADRA MAJHI, DINESH TRIVEDI

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

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 397

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 8 TH   JANUARY, 2019

## SWAMINATHAN COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

- *397.     SHRI BALABHADRA MAJHI: SHRI DINESH TRIVEDI:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government plans to set the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at 1.5 times the C2 (comprehensive cost) as per the Swaminathan Committee recommendation, if so, the  details  thereof  and  the  time  by  which  the  recommendation  of  the  Swaminathan Committee will be implemented and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether the Government has received any proposal for implementation of the above recommendation  of  the  Swaminathan  Committee,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the response of the Government thereto in respect of rice till date;
- (c) whether the system has any impact on rice production in the country and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise in the last year;
- (d) whether in October 2018, market price for 10 out of the 14 kharif crops was lower than MSP announced by the Government and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the  percentage  increase  in  MSP  over  the  past  five  years  along  with  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

(SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 397    DUE FOR REPLY ON 8 TH   JANUARY, 2019.

(a) & (b): National  Commission  on  Farmers  (NCF)  headed  by  Dr.  M.S.  Swaminathan had  recommended  that  the  Minimum  Support  Price  (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 by the then Government, this recommendation of providing 50 per cent returns over cost of production was not included. The report of the NCF, 2006 had discussed  different  dimensions  of  cost  for  determining  MSPs,  but  while  finalizing  National Policy on Farmers in 2007, the then Government had not accepted the other dimensions and followed the established method of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP).

Government fixes MSPs of 22 mandated agricultural crops including paddy and Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane on the basis of recommendations of CACP, after  considering the  views  of  State  Governments  and  Central  Ministries/Departments concerned and other relevant factors. In addition, MSP for Toria and De-Husked coconut is also fixed on the basis of MSPs of Rapeseed/Mustard and Copra respectively.

While  recommending  MSPs,  CACP  considers  the  cost  of  production  and  host  of factors such as demand-supply situation, trends in domestic and international prices, intercrop  price  parity,  terms  of  trade  between  agricultural  and  non-agricultural  sectors  and  the likely  impact  of  MSP  on  consumers  and  overall  economy  along  with  rational  utilization  of scarce natural resources like land and water. The costs considered are comprehensive and include all paid out costs such as those incurred on account of hired human labour, bullock labour/machine labour, rent paid for leased in land, expenses incurred in cash and kind on use  of  material  inputs  like  seeds,  fertilizers,  manures,  irrigation  charges,  depreciation  on implements and farm buildings, interest on working capital, diesel/electricity for operation of pump sets etc, miscellaneous expenses and imputed value of family labour.

-2-

The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced the pre-determined principle to keep MSP at levels of one and half times the cost of production. Accordingly,  Government has increased the MSPs for all notified Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of atleast 50 per cent of cost of production for the agricultural year 2018-19 including paddy. This  decision  of  the  Government  was  a  historic  one  as  it  fulfills  the  commitment  to  the farmers to provide 50 per cent return over all-India weighted average cost of production for the first time for all mandated crops.

(c): Price policy in conjunction with other agricultural policies has increased production of rice, whereas the area sown remained more or less stagnant over the years. Production of rice  has  increased  substantially  at  all  India  level  from  106.65  million  tonnes  in  2013-14  to 112.91  million  tonnes(as  per  Fourth  Advance  Estimates)  in  2017-18.  The  state-wise production of rice for the 2017-18 is given at Annex-1 .

(d):       The prices of agricultural produce are determined by supply and demand conditions in the market on a day-to-day basis. The prices of agricultural produce tend to fall immediately after harvest due to increase in market arrival of new crops in a lumpy manner. The MSP and wholesale prices of kharif crops for the month of October, 2018 is given at Annex-2 .

(e): Details    of    percentage    increase  in  MSP  from  2014-15  to  2018-19  are  given  at Annex-3 .

Annex referred to in reply to part (c) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 397 due for reply on 08.01.2019.

## State-wise Production of Rice

(000' tonnes)

| State/ UT        |   2017-18* |
|------------------|------------|
| Andhra Pradesh   |     8176.2 |
| Assam            |     5164   |
| Bihar            |     7911.2 |
| Chattisgarh      |     4725.5 |
| Gujarat          |     2039   |
| Haryana          |     4523.4 |
| Himachal Pradesh |      116.6 |
| Jammu & Kashmir  |      613.9 |
| Jharkhand        |     4078   |
| Karnataka        |     2807   |
| Kerala           |      499   |
| Madhya Pradesh   |     4123.9 |
| Maharashtra      |     2712.7 |
| Odisha           |     6527.9 |
| Punjab           |    13382   |
| Rajasthan        |      450.9 |
| Tamil Nadu       |     7277.7 |
| Telangana        |     6250   |
| Uttar Pradesh    |    13270.6 |
| UttaraKhand      |      655   |
| West Bengal      |    14967   |
| Others           |     2633.8 |
| All India        |   112906   |

*Fourth Advance Estimates

Annex referred to in reply to part (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 397 due for reply on 08.01.2019.

## MSP and Wholesale Prices

(Rs.per quintal)

| Sl. No.   | Commodity              | Commodity   | Commodity                       |
|-----------|------------------------|-------------|---------------------------------|
| Sl. No.   | KHARIF CROPS           | MSP 2018-19 | Wholesale Prices(October, 2018) |
| 1         | PADDY(Common)          | 1750        | 1688                            |
| 2         | JOWAR (Hybrid)         | 2430        | 2320                            |
| 3         | BAJRA                  | 1950        | 1744                            |
| 4         | MAIZE                  | 1700        | 1515                            |
| 5         | RAGI                   | 2897        | 2651                            |
| 6         | ARHAR(Tur)             | 5675        | 4077                            |
| 7         | MOONG                  | 6975        | 5410                            |
| 8         | URAD                   | 5600        | 4906                            |
| 9         | COTTON (Medium Staple) | 5150        | 5598                            |
| 10        | GROUNDNUT IN SHELL     | 4890        | 4713                            |
| 11        | SUNFLOWER SEED         | 5388        | 3474                            |
| 12        | SOYABEAN               | 3399        | 3316                            |
| 13        | SESAMUM                | 6249        | 10043                           |
| 14        | NIGERSEED              | 5877        | 4408                            |

## Annex referred to in reply to part (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 397 due for reply on 08.01.2019

## Percentage increase in MSP

| Sl. No.   | Commodity                         | Variety       | 2014-15   | 2015-16   | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |
|-----------|-----------------------------------|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
|           | KHARIF CROPS                      |               |           |           |           |           |           |
| 1         | PADDY                             | Common        | 3.8       | 3.7       | 4.3       | 5.4       | 12.9      |
|           |                                   | Grade 'A'     | 4.1       | 3.6       | 4.1       | 5.3       | 11.3      |
| 2         | JOWAR                             | Hybrid        | 2.0       | 2.6       | 3.5       | 4.6       | 42.9      |
|           |                                   | Maldandi      | 2.0       | 2.6       | 3.8       | 4.5       | 42.3      |
| 3         | BAJRA                             |               | 0.0       | 2.0       | 4.3       | 7.1       | 36.9      |
| 4         | MAIZE                             |               | 0.0       | 1.1       | 3.0       | 4.3       | 19.3      |
| 5         | RAGI                              |               | 3.3       | 6.5       | 4.5       | 10.1      | 52.5      |
| 6         | ARHAR(Tur)                        |               | 1.2       | 6.3       | 9.2       | 7.9       | 4.1       |
| 7         | MOONG                             |               | 2.2       | 5.4       | 7.7       | 6.7       | 25.1      |
| 8         | URAD                              |               | 1.2       | 6.3       | 8.1       | 8.0       | 3.7       |
| 9         | COTTON                            | Medium Staple | 1.4       | 1.3       | 1.6       | 4.1       | 28.1      |
|           |                                   | Long Staple   | 1.3       | 1.2       | 1.5       | 3.8       | 26.2      |
| 10        | GROUNDNUT IN SHELL                |               | 0.0       | 0.8       | 4.7       | 5.5       | 9.8       |
| 11        | SUNFLOWER SEED                    |               | 1.4       | 1.3       | 3.9       | 3.8       | 31.4      |
| 12        | SOYABEAN                          | Yellow        | 0.0       | 1.6       | 6.7       | 9.9       | 11.5      |
| 13        | SESAMUM                           |               | 2.2       | 2.2       | 6.4       | 6.0       | 17.9      |
| 14        | NIGERSEED                         |               | 2.9       | 1.4       | 4.8       | 5.9       | 45.1      |
|           | RABI CROPS                        |               |           |           |           |           |           |
| 15        | WHEAT                             |               | 3.6       | 5.2       | 6.6       | 6.8       | 6.1       |
| 16        | BARLEY                            |               | 4.5       | 6.5       | 8.2       | 6.4       | 2.1       |
| 17        | GRAM                              |               | 2.4       | 10.2      | 14.3      | 10        | 5.0       |
| 18        | MASUR (LENTIL)                    |               | 4.2       | 10.6      | 16.2      | 7.6       | 5.3       |
| 19        | RAPESEED/MUSTARD                  |               | 1.6       | 8.0       | 10.4      | 8.1       | 5.0       |
| 20        | SAFFLOWER                         |               | 1.7       | 8.2       | 12.1      | 10.8      | 20.6      |
| 21        | TORIA                             |               | 0.0       | 8.9       | 8.2       | 9.6       | 7.4       |
|           | OTHER CROPS                       |               |           |           |           |           |           |
| 22        | COPRA                             | Milling       | 0.0       | 5.7       | 7.2       | 9.2       | 15.6      |
|           | (Calender Year)                   | Ball          | 0.0       | 6.0       | 7.0       | 8.7       | 14.2      |
| 23        | DE-HUSKED COCONUT (Calender Year) |               | 0.0       | 5.3       | 6.7       | 10.0      | 15.3      |
| 24        | JUTE                              |               | 4.3       | 12.5      | 18.5      | 9.3       | 5.7       |
| 25        | SUGARCANE                         |               | 4.8       | 4.5       | 0.0       | 10.9      | 7.8       |

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