Support price of paddy hiked

 Aiming to encourage farmers to grow more food grain during the on going kharif season, the Centre on Thursday approved a hike in paddy minimum support price (MSP) to Rs 1,310 per quintal, Rs 60 more than the earlier price.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) also approved the increase the MSP of pulses and oilseeds by up to Rs 450 and Rs 320 per quintal, to boost ouput and reduce import dependence. The hiked prices will be applicable to kharif crops for 2013-14 crop year from July to June. While the MSP for common paddy has been raised to Rs 1,310 from Rs 1,250 per quintal, the support price of grade 'A' variety of paddy has been hiked by Rs 65 to Rs 1,345 per quintal. The sowing of paddy begins with the onset of monsoon in June and harvesting starts in October.

The CCEA also approved Rs 100 hike in cotton MSP to Rs 3,700 per quintal (medium staple) and Rs 4,000 per quintal (long staple).

In the pulses category, the MSP of tur has been raised by Rs 450 to Rs 4,300 per quintal, while that of moong by Rs 100 to Rs 4,500 per quintal.  Additionally, for oilseeds CCEA approved a hike of Rs 300 in the MSP of soya bean (black) to Rs 2,500 a quintal; Rs 320 rise in MSP of soya bean (yellow) to Rs 2,560 per quintal.

The MSP of sesame stands increased by Rs 300 per quintal at Rs 4,500. Meanwhile, other seeds like sunflower seed and niger seed have been kept unchanged at Rs 3,700 per quintal and Rs 3,500 per quintal respectively.  Similarly, the urad MSP stands at Rs 4,300 per quintal for this year.