BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Friday urged the Centre to hike the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 2,930 per quintal for farmers of the State. Justifying the demand, Agriculture Minister Arun Sahoo told mediapersons that farmers of the State are victims to vagaries of nature.
“The Centre’s recent MSP hike is not remunerative because of the increasing input cost and crop loss every year due to frequent calamities. This is precisely the reason for which the State government has been demanding increase of support price to Rs 2,930 per quintal,” the Minister said.
If the State government demand is accepted, it will help farmers earn 25 per cent profit from their produce, he added. Stating that Odisha is the fourth largest rice producing state in the country, Sahoo said the Centre’s aim of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 would not be fulfilled if the MSP is not raised to the level that the State has been demanding.
Writing to the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to consider the case of Odisha on priority basis, Sahoo said MSP fixed by the Centre does not fit the bill for the State as the condition here is quite different from other states.
Meanwhile, hitting out at the State government for depriving a larger number of farmers from the benefit of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan), BJP State Kishan Morcha president Pradip Purohit reminded Sahoo that the BJD government is yet fulfill its 2015 promise of providing a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal to the farmers during procurement.
He said the MSP for paddy was Rs 1,310 per quintal in 2013-14 when the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre. It has been increased to Rs 1,940 per quintal for 2021-22 and the Centre has targeted to procure 71.9 lakh tonne paddy involving a cost of Rs 13,948.6 crore.
Alleging that katni-chatni (price cut) is rampant, Purohit said it will be of great help to the farmers if the Agriculture Minister ensures that the farmers get actual cost for the produce.