'Centre's MSP won't help majority of farmers'

The minimum support price (MSP) for 14 crops announced by the central government is less than the input cost for all except four crops, former chairman of the Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission (KAPC) Prakash Kammardi said.

His reaction came hours after the Union government announced support price for 14 Kharif crops. Kammardi said the government's assertion that the MSP will bring profit ranging from 50% to 83% was wrong as except for paddy, maize, urad and cotton, the support price for other crops was much lower than the input cost.

"Farmers will suffer the lass. As per the KAPC calculation, farmers spend Rs 3482 to grow a quintal of ragi but the MSP was Rs 3295...Similarly, the input cost for groundnut is Rs 6509 but the MSP announced is Rs 5275," he said, adding that the MSP was nowhere near the recommendations of M S Swaminathan.

"The Union government should have announced a pro-farmer MSP at least during the Covid-19 crisis. Only farmers in the water-rich, fertile region with ample electricity may benefit from the announcement. One nation-one MSP is not the right answer to the crisis," he said.