Centre hikes kharif MSP, says open for talks with agitating farmers

The Government of India on Wednesday announced a hike in the minimum support price (MSP) for summer crops for the 2021-22 marketing season and also held the door open for talks with the farmers protesting against agricultural reforms.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) increased the MSP for paddy by Rs 72 per quintal, tur and urad by Rs 300 per quintal, jowar by 118 per quintal and ragi by Rs 82 per quintal.

The MSP on paddy (common variety) has been increased to Rs 1,940 per quintal for the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) from Rs 1,868 per quintal in previous year.

Read more: Govt ready to talk to farmers on issues other than farm Bills: Tomar

Similarly, MSP for jowar has been hiked to Rs 2,738 per quintal from the Rs 2,620 per quintal last year, while MSP for tur and urad has been fixed at Rs 6,300 per quintal as against Rs 6,000 of the previous year.

In the case of groundnut and nigerseed, there has been an increase of Rs 275 per quintal and Rs 235 per quintal, respectively, in comparison to last year.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Cabinet has approved the MSP of 14 kharif crops for the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) and farmers would get 50-85 per cent returns over their cost of production.

The government increased the support price of bajra by Rs 100 to Rs 2,250 per quintal from Rs 2,150 per quintal last year, while ragi support price has been increased by Rs 82 to Rs 3,377 per quintal from Rs 3,295 per quintal last year.

On the farmers’ protests, Tomar said that the government was ready to talk to the farmers’ union leaders to address their concerns over the agricultural reforms.

“We urge farmers’ leaders to point out flaws in the three farm laws and we are ready to address their concerns,” Tomar said.

The minister said the government had held 11 rounds of talks with the farmers’ representatives but they had failed to point out the flaws in the laws.