Centre fixes MSP for kharif crops

Farmers could get anywhere between 50%-83% more returns on the cost of production of the summer crops according to the minimum support price (MSP) of 14 kharif crops for the 2020-21 marketing season fixed by the government, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Monday.

However, the increase in MSP for paddy over the previous year works out to be Rs 53 or just about 3% over the Rs 1815 per quintal for the 2019-20 crop season.

The MSP for paddy has been fixed at Rs 1,868 per quintal as against the previous years Rs 1,815, for grade A paddy, the MSP would be Rs 1,888 (Rs 1,835). The support price for toor dal or pigeon pea has been fixed at Rs 6,000 per quintal as against Rs 5,800 of the last year.

The support price for jowar hybrid has been fixed at Rs 2,620 – an increase of 2.7% over the previous years Rs 2,550. For ragi, the support price has been fixed at Rs 3,295 over previous years Rs 3,150.

According to Tomar, the support price for ragi, moong, ground nut, sunflower, soyabean, sesame, nigerseed and cotton has been fixed at 50% of the cost price calculated by the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Practices (CACP). For maize farmers will get 53% more returns above the cost of production, for toor (58%), urad (64%) and bajra (83%).

The Cabinet also decided to extend the repayment date for all short term loans to farmers of up to Rs three lakh to August 31, 2020 from May 31, 2020.

The central government provides a 2% interest subvention to loans for farmers and a prompt repayment incentive of 3% if the farmer repays the loan in time. This enables farmers to avail loans at an interest of 4% per annum, Tomar said.

The decision to extend the deadline for repayment was taken as farmers are not able to travel to bank branches for payment of their short-term crop loan dues, the Agriculture Minister said.

The MSP for moong is Rs 7,196 per quintal as against Rs 7,050 per quintal the previous year, urad Rs, 6,000 per quintal (Rs 5,700), groundnut Rs 5,275 per quintal (Rs 5,090), sunflower Rs 5,885 per quintal (Rs 5,650), soyabean Rs 3,880 per quintal (Rs 3,710), sesame Rs 6,855 per quintal (Rs 6,485) and nigerseed Rs 6,695 per quintal (Rs 5,940).

The MSP for medium-staple and long-staple cotton have been set at Rs 5,515 and Rs 5,825 per quintal, respectively. The new MSP for bajra is Rs 2,150 per quintal.