Bhubaneswar: Following the Centre’s decision to hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy to Rs 1940 per quintal, the state government has once again demanded a hike in MSP for paddy to Rs 2930 per quintal.
Addressing a press conference held here Friday, Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said the Centre has hiked paddy MSP by Rs 72 to Rs 1,940 per quintal for 2021-22 crop year while the MSP of Grade-A variety has been hiked to Rs 1960.
This will not help Odisha farmers, especially the marginal and small ones, he said. Odisha farmers frequently face natural calamities like cyclones, floods, droughts (in some places) and pest attacks.
Therefore, it shouldn’t be treated like other states, Sahoo said. Though the state government is taking all welfare measures for the farmers, the Centre is providing the MSP. Therefore, the Centre should increase the MSP of paddy to at least Rs 2930 per quintal, the Minister demanded.
The state Assembly had unanimously adopted resolutions twice, in 2017 and 2018, for enhancing paddy MSP to Rs 2930 per quintal as per the MS Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, he said, adding “The move will help farmers get 25 per cent profit from their produce.”
“My department and I have written letters to the Union Agriculture Ministry many times over the past few years for the MSP hike. Today also I have written a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister in this regard,” Sahoo said.
The Centre has claimed that it will double the income of farmers by 2022. But, it won’t be possible if the MSP is hiked at such a rate as was done two days ago, he said.
Stating that, Odisha is the fourth-largest rice producing state in the country, the Minister said, “The Centre should take measures on a serious note and hike the MSP to Rs 2930 per quintal at least for Odisha considering the above aspects.”
Reacting to Sahoo’s statement, state BJP farmers’ wing president Pradip Purohit said, “The state government has failed to procure paddy from the farmers whatever they have harvested during the last crop year. The government is yet to provide the bonus it had announced during a public meeting.”
While many other states including Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are providing bonus of Rs 400 to Rs 600 per quintal of paddy in addition to the MSP, the Odisha government is doing Katni Chatni (cutting down some amount of paddy citing its quality), the BJP leader said.
Two days ago the Centre had approved an increase in the MSPs for all mandated Kharif crops for marketing season 2021-22 to ensure remunerative prices to the growers.
PNN
