Lok Sabha Question No. 26 (STARRED), answered on 2025-07-22
Subject: Sale of Crops at Lower Prices
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Satpal Brahamchari, Shri Chandra Prakash Choudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 26

TO BE ANSWERED ON 22 ND  JULY, 2025

## SALE OF CROPS AT LOWER PRICES

## *26. SHRI SATPAL BRAHAMCHARI: SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that the farmers are being forced to sell their crops at prices lower than the cost price in various parts of the country including Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir thereby affecting their income adversely;

(b) whether all the farmers are getting proper benefits under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme, if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  particularly  in Jharkhand;

(c) whether the Government is taking any special initiatives in the areas of crop insurance, marketing facility, storage and organic farming under the scheme of doubling the farmers' income; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी (SHRI SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 26 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 22 ND  JULY, 2025 REGARDING 'SALE OF CROPS AT LOWER PRICES'.

(a) & (b): Every year, Government fixes Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 22 mandated agricultural crops for the country as a whole based on the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural  Costs & Prices  (CACP), after considering the views of State Governments and Central Ministries/Departments concerned.

The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced the pre-determined principle to keep MSPs at levels of one and half times of the cost of production. Accordingly, Government had increased MSPs for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other Commercial crops with a minimum return  of  50  percent  over  all  India  weighted  average  cost  of  production  from  year  2018-19 onwards.

Government  offers  to  procure  agricultural  crops  through  designated  procurement agencies and farmers have the option to sell their produce to the government agencies or in the open market whichever is advantageous to them.

Increased MSP has benefited farmers of whole country including farmers of Jharkhand which are evident from data of procurement and MSP amount paid to the farmers.The details of procurement and MSP amount paid to farmers during last five years including current year are given as under:

## Procurement & MSP value of MSP Crops

| All MSP Crops                   | 2020-21   | 2021-22   | 2022-23   | 2023-24   | 2024-25*   |
|---------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|------------|
| Total Procurement (In LMT)      | 1,368     | 1,083     | 1,118     | 1,089     | 1,175      |
| Total MSP Value (In lakh Crore) | 2.91      | 2.25      | 2.47      | 2.63      | 3.33       |

*As on 30.06.2025

- (c)  & (d): For  the  benefit  of  farmers,  Government  has  taken  several  initiatives  which include  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana  (PMFBY)/Restructured  Weather  Based  Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Marketing Infrastructure and Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) to encourage organic farming. Details of these are given below:
-  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana  and  weather  based  Restructured  weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) - Government has introduced yield based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Weather Index Based Restructured

Weather  Based  Crop  Insurance  Scheme  (RWBCIS)  from  Kharif  2016  to  provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities, adverse weather incidence and to stabilize the income of farmers etc. Comprehensive risk insurance is provided under the scheme from pre-sowing to post-harvest losses.

-  Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) : A dedicated financing facility with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore launched to support the creation of  post-harvest  management infrastructure including warehouses, cold storages, sorting/grading units, and primary processing centers.
-  Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) sub-scheme under Integrated Scheme for  Agricultural  Marketing  (ISAM):  Supports  the  development  of  rural  godowns  and storage facilities, enhancing farmers' ability to store produce and sell at better prices.
-  Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs scheme :  FPOs are being supported with  market  linkages  through  digital  platforms  like  National  Agriculture  Market  (eNAM),  open  network  for  digital  commerce  (ONDC),  Government  e  Marketplace (GeM), and physical infrastructure to act as aggregators, reducing distress sale and improving bargaining power.
-  e-NAM  Integration: The  National  Agriculture  Market  (e-NAM)  platform  connects APMCs across states, providing farmers access to wider markets and better price realization.
-  Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (PKVY)Government  is  promoting  organic farming  in  the  country  through  the  scheme  of  Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana (PKVY), a component of Pradhan Mantri- Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY) including  the  State  of Punjab.  The  PKVY  scheme provides end-to-end support to organic farmers i.e. from production to processing, certification and marketing in a cluster based approach. The primary focus of the scheme is to form organic clusters in a cluster where preference is given to small and marginal farmers.

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