What should farmers do, in case they don’t get MSP 

Nirmesh Singh

New Delhi | 07 March 2018

Farmers groups will launch ‘MSP Satyagraha’ on March 14 to make farmers aware of the losses they incur due to lack of remunerative crop prices and to press for assured Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Informing about the Satyagrah before media on Wednesday in New Delhi, Yogendra Yadav, President Swaraj India said, “MSP Satyagraha is designed in the true spirit of Gandhian Satyagraha for collective discovery of truth about MSP, and officials, activists and media are invited to join”.

National Convenor of Jai Kisan Andolan, Avik Saha said, “The MSP Satyagrah will be the first ever audit of MSP at the ground level”.  

“We only hear about MSP being announced by the government but what happens on the ground is not known. Whether farmers even get it or not is not known. What should farmers do, in case they don’t get MSP”, he added.

“It is for this reason that activists and farmers would travel from mandi (market) to mandi and hold Kisan Darbar to inform farmers about the loot and to raise demand for legal entitlement of fair MSP”, Avik Saha added.

The MSP Satyagrah will start from Yadgir in Karnataka on March 14 and then passing through Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, Tandur in Telangana, Sri Ganga Nagar in Rajasthan, Rewari in Haryana, it will conclude at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand on March 25.

Avik Saha also called for fixing the MRPs of agri produce, especially fruits and vegetables, like the assured MSPs to benefit both – farmers and end consumers.  This will also check the unfair fixing of prices by middlemen and traders.

Elaborating more on the MSP crisis, Yogendra Yadav said, “Government mislead farmers on MSP in 2018 budget by announcing 50 percent rise on partial cost known as A2 + FL and not on comprehensive C2 cost of production”.

“On been cornered the government admitted the MSP it announced was not adequate but it promised to take special steps to ensure that all farmers actually get the MSP by involving Niti Ayog”, he added.

“But Niti Ayog has not drawn up any road map for proper implementation to ensure MSP to farmers yet”, Yadav told.

Signals about MSP for the first produce of this Rabi season is not encouraging, he said.

There is huge gap between the average modal spot prices for current week (1-8 March 2018) compared to MSP and prices for the same week in 2017.

Yogendra Yadav said, “the prices of Bengal gram (chana) have fallen substantially below the MSP of Rs 4400. In Madhya Pradesh, it is Rs 3458 (- 1013 from last year) while in Maharashtra and Karnataka, it is Rs 3619 ( -1568 from last year) and Rs 3766 (- 1236 from last year), respectively. So is the situation of Mustard and Lentil.

 An analysis of the marketing season of Kharif crop 2017-18 had demonstrated that the farmers were forced to sell much below MSP and had incurred a total loss of at least Rs 32,702 crore, he said.

Jai Kisan Andolan, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), Ryathu Joint Action Committee (Telangana) and Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (Madhya Pradesh) will take part in the MSP Satyagraha.

Parliamentary Committee Report

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, headed by Hukm Deo Narayan Yadav, in its report has said that Central government has proposed the decentralized Market Assurance Scheme (MAS) and Price Deficiency Procurement Scheme (PDPS) that would provide direct payment of the difference between the MSP and the selling price, to farmers selling his produce in the APMC yard.

The Committee said these schemes were under consideration and hoped that the Niti Aayog would complete the process of consultation with all stakeholders for launch of this scheme in next fiscal.  It has recommended to exclude brokers and adopt liberal financing pattern for the implementation of its proposed schemes to ensure that farmers get minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.