HYDERABAD: Hailing the Union Cabinet’s decision to raise the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy, a few pulses and oilseeds, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay has said that it has re-affirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pro-farmer.
In a press statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that the decision to hike the MSP for green gram by 10.4 per cent (by Rs 803 per quintal) to Rs 8,558 per quintal is commendable.
He also lauded the decision to hike MSP for paddy by 7 per cent which is currently priced at Rs 2,183 per quintal, and also for increasing the MSP for cotton (by Rs 540 to Rs 640), black gram (by Rs 350), sesamum (by Rs 805) and red gram (by Rs 400).
Describing it as yet another step of the Modi government to enhance the farmers’ income, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy has said that the decision to raise the MSP would encourage the farmers to diversify their crops.
He said that the MSP for all the crops has increased by 60% to 80% as compared to 2014 and pointed out that sunflower MSP has increased by 80% since 2014.
“The MSP of Bajra (pearl millet) has been the highest, being 82% above the cost of production, red gram by 58%, soya by 52% and black gram by 51%,” he stated.
BJP national executive member G Mohan Rao has opined that at a time when retail inflation was on the decline, increasing the MSP would be largely beneficial to the farmers.