Bhubaneswar: With Centre making it clear that there are slim chances of any further hike in minimum support price (MSP) of paddy this fiscal, the ruling BJD and opposition Congress have dubbed the BJP led NDA government at Centre as anti-farmer.
In a written reply, Union minister of State for Agriculture, Gajendra Singh Sekhawat said in the Parliament Tuesday that Centre has fixed the paddy MSP at `1,550 for 2017-18 financial year, which provides a profit margin of `433 per quintal to farmers against the cost of production of `1,117 per quintal as estimated by the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP).
BJD vice-president and state food minister SN Patro has termed the statement as anti-farmer. Both Patro and agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy wanted to know how can farmers earn a profit of `433 when the production cost of paddy per quintal is `2,344 and the MSP per quintal is only `1,550.
BJD leaders said that the union minister is unaware of ground realities.
State Congress president Prasad Harichandan also accused the center of undermining the plight of farmers and wanted to know why proposals of the state to hike paddy MSP to `2,930 and bring relaxation to FAQ norms haven’t been taken into consideration.
He alleged that after showing a rosy picture of enhancing paddy MSP by one-and-half times of the production cost prior to elections, the Modi government has now betrayed the farmers of the country.
However, the BJP state-unit hit back asking why the state government is not giving bonus to farmers as promised by the BJD earlier.
Meanwhile, food minster said that the house panel on paddy MSP formed to press the matter before centre will decide the future course of action of the state in this regard in its next meeting.
PNN