NEW DELHI: After the fifth round of talks with agitating farmers, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday claimed that the current government has done more for farmers when it comes to minimum support price (MSP) than any other.
However, an analysis of government data show, under the previous UPA government, the MSP registered a sharper climb than under the present Modi government.
Tomar claimed that in the last six years, there has been “a complete transformation” in the agriculture sector.
“Farmers’ income has increased, the MSP has increased and government purchase of farm products has increased,” he said.
But, according to data, between 2006-07 and 2013-14, when the UPA was in power, there was a 90 to 205% rise in the minimum support price (MSP) of major crops, including paddy, wheat, arhar, gram, maize and masoor.
During the subsequent six years of the NDA government, the MSP has grown at a comparatively modest rate of 40- 73%.
While the MSP of paddy (common) was Rs 580 in the year 2006-07, it reached the level of Rs 1310 in 2013-14 — a growth of 126%. Similarly, the MSP of wheat increased by 87% and of Tur (Arhar) by a whopping 205%.
Under the NDA government, the MSP of paddy (common) increased from Rs 1,310 in 2013-14 to Rs 1,868 in 2020-21 — a growth of nearly 43%.
Similarly, the MSP of wheat and tur went up by 41% and 40% respectively during the same period. Data also showed that while both the governments — the UPA or NDA-have continuously raised the MSP, only 30-35 % of the wheat and paddy could be procured by the government under the Central pool.
In other words, only about 3.08 crore tones of wheat, out of the 9.85 crore tones produced, were procured by the government.
Likewise, of the 10.97 crore tones of paddy produced during 2016-17, only 3.81 crore tones were procured.
Government fixes the MSP of 22 mandated agricultural crops based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP).
Rise in MSP beneficiaries
While 73 lakh paddy farmers and 20.5 lakh wheat farmers benefited from the MSP scheme in 2015-16, in 2019-20, 1.24 crore paddy farmers and 43.5 lakh wheat farmersbenefited, according to data.