Hyderabad: Telangana agriculture secretary C. Parthasarathi says lack of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops in tune with the cost of production, and poor value addition, among others, are the reasons why farmers are not getting the right price for their produce.
“MSP is fixed by the Central government since foodgrains are traded across the country. State governments cannot fix the MSP. It can only extend help in other forms, which we are doing, like free power, subsidies, proposed free fertiliser from next year, and the like. Unfortuna-tely, MSP is less than the production cost,” he said.
Citing MSP of various food grains and production costs, he said there is a total mismatch. Chilli doesn’t have MSP and this added to the problem.
Asked why the government did not anticipate glut in chillies, he said since chilli doesn’t have MSP. The government can do little. “Agri produce is market-driven and depends on demand and supply. Only when things go awry does the government step in,” he said.
“There is a bumper crop of chilli, paddy, and red gram in the state, thanks to good rains. In fact, there is an overproduction of chillies. We got seven lakh quintals, but there is no MSP,” he explained. He added the Centre deliberately fixed it low to avoid impact on consumers, but it is a fact that farmers don’t even get their costs covered through MSP.
