VIJAYAWADA: Former agriculture minister Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao has said that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the Union government for 14 different crops is not in accordance with the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations. He stressed the need for bringing in a legislation to recognise C2+50 per cent as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission as a legal right of the farmers in the country.
Speaking to mediapersons in Vijayawada on Thursday, he said though the announcement of MSP for 14 crops was delayed, it was better than nothing. “However, the MSP was far less than the MSP recommended under the C2+50, by the Swaminathan Commission,” he said.
According to him, only bajra got a better MPS and even that was less than what was recommended under C2+50. “Dry irrigated crops got a better deal than earlier. Though red gram and black gram are widely used and even imported from other countries, MSP fell short of expectations. Likewise, better support price was not announced for oil-palm whose yields are 10 times more than any other oil seed. If it was encouraged, there will not be any need for importing edible oil,” he said.
Vadde opined that the farmers will have better days only when the government shows real interest in them. He stressed the need for Central and state governments to cover the gap between MSP and the market price, in case the latter is less than the former.
“All the 167 farmer organisations representing lakhs of farmers in the country are demanding the right to C2+50 and the governments have to ensure that a bill to that effect is introduced and passed in the Parliament,” he said. The former agriculture minister also stressed the need for the State government to convene the State-level bankers meeting at the earliest and ensure that all farmers and tenant farmers with loan eligibility cards get the loans, so they can speed up their Kharif operations.