Hemchandra Saikia
(saikia.hemchandra@rediffmail.com)
One of the most critical government interventions in paving the way for enhanced farm income, agricultural production, and productivity is the effective realisation of a suitable and acceptable remunerative price for agricultural produce, which can be realised in the form of the Minimum Support Price (MSP). In our state, Assam, there are 27.41 lakh farm families who are directly related to the occupation of agriculture and allied activities year after year for their livelihood and indirectly do a great job of supplying food to our food security system. Through the invaluable contribution of our esteemed farm families hard labour and effort amidst numerous disturbances of risk and uncertainty, we human beings are getting our food for our survival and due development in all spheres, which is very essential for sustainable food security and a human society free from the menace of malnutrition.
Now, we all know and have well experiences that our agriculture is monsoon or weather dependent and are badly affected by the ill effect of flood, erosion, landslide, drought, erratic and uneven rainfall, problem of major insect pest and diseases in addition to the problem of effective irrigation, availability of suitable improved agricultural technologies in due space and time and also these are not easily accessible in time, tractor, power tillers, transplanters or seed sowing machines, harvesters and other essential modern machineries are very limited or many a time not available in many localities. Moreover, the performance of the agriculture sector is also critically affected by support systems like remunerative prices for agricultural produce, market information, and other market-related services, which are crucial and critical not only for the betterment of our farming community but also very essential in attracting and retaining our esteem farming society to continue their agricultural activities with a high degree of efficiency and sustainability. And this very desirable and sustainable condition can be promoted, established, or accentuated only if there exists or sustains a very effective and remunerative price support mechanism in the form of a minimum support price for major agricultural crops, along with an effective and encouraging procurement drive in due space and time without the prevalence of hardship created by some ill-motivated, greedy people. Of course, these very problems can be wiped out very easily if our farming people become united and conscious enough at the right time by raising their voices in the right places.
So, to bring about a very desirable change in the very performance of our agricultural activities or farming, along with a remarkable contribution towards the right and sustainable building up of food security and socio-economic development of our farming community, where they can very well enjoy their due profit in the form of right security, development, dignity, and respect in the society where they live or deal with, an effective assurance and realisation of the minimum support price for major agricultural crops can initiate a very glittering impact to attract and sustain our farming community in the right direction. Hence, the role of the minimum support price for major agricultural crops is very crucial and critical in constructing the performance of our agricultural sector in general and the overall condition of our farming community in particular, and thus can contribute to societal peace, progress, and happiness in our human society.
In fact, the declaration and operation of the minimum support price for major agricultural crops is an effective and encouraging tool of market intervention by the government of India, where due consideration of the constituent state governments is also taken care of. MSP is fixed on the recommendations of an apex advisory body under the Ministry of Agriculture called the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The government declares minimum support prices for 23 major agricultural crops on the recommendation of the CACP twice a year, including both Kharif and Rabi crops, not only to encourage improved agricultural technology adoption and enhanced productivity of crops but also to protect farmers from the risk and uncertainty of incurring huge economic losses when the prevailing market price is far below their cost of production and when there is a glut of production in the market. It also discourages the distress sale of our poor farmers. Thus, the effective operation of MSP is very beneficial to all concerned with agricultural activities because it insures agricultural producers against any sharp fall in farm prices. Crops that are included under MSP in our country are comprised of 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley, and ragi), 5 pulses (gramme, tur, moong, urad, and lentil), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soybean, seasamum, sunflower, safflower, and Niger seed), and 4 commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton, and raw jute).
The justification for the intervention of MSP by the Government of India is that it considers a host of critical factors while fixing the MSP of a particular agricultural crop, including demand and supply, cost of production, price trend in the market (both domestic and international), inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture, a minimum of 50 percent as the margin over cost of production, and the likely implication of MSP on the consumer of that product as recommended by the CACP.
MSP for Rapeseed and Mustard in Assam: The Government of Assam, for the first time, is going to implement the MSP for rapeseed and mustard in Assam for the greater cause of benefiting our farmers across the state and realising a very remunerative price for rapeseed and mustard (Rs 5,450 per quintal) in the state. This was a very essential need for our rapeseed and mustard farmers because the prevailing market rate of rapeseed and mustard in the state is not more than Rs 3,500 per quintal, as expressed by the number of progressive farmers across the state. Thus, due to the implementation of MSP for rapeseed and mustard, farmers’ income from this crop will be enhanced by 55.71 percent (1.56 times) on a per quintal basis. Thus, the aggregate dividend resulting from this MSP operation in the entire state will not only contribute to the improvement of the overall economic condition of our farmers but will also definitely contribute leverage to our state economy.
Another strong justification for the implementation of MSP for rapeseed and mustard in the state of Assam is that for most of our flood-affected farmers, it is their natural compulsion to go for the large-scale cultivation of rapeseed and mustard for their easy source of livelihood. There are 2.86 lakh hectares of area under the cultivation of rapeseed and mustard in Assam. Moreover, on flood-affected land, rapeseed and mustard grow very well and can harvest a very good crop if cultivation starts in time with the adoption of suitable improved agricultural technology or a package of practises to exploit full yield potential. Again, retaining and attracting our farmers to go for improved methods of rapeseed and mustard crop production in all suitable locations will also help in reducing the supply shortfall of mustard oil production in the state and thus contribute to the minimization of the price of mustard oil for our esteemed consumers. And this is only possible when there is effective realisation of encouraging remunerative MSP for rapeseed and mustard. That is what the government of Assam is initiating or facilitating. This is really historic and a very welcome step for the welfare of our farming community in particular and our economy in general.
Now all the rapeseed and mustard farmers having marketable surplus can avail this great economic benefit of MSP of rapeseed and mustard by selling at Rs 5,450 per quintal at their nearby designated procurement points and fulfilling all the essential quality specification norms fixed for the crop. These norms are: waste or discarded material (maximum 2%), immature and chaffy grains (max 4%), damaged and infected seed (max 2%), small and stunted crop seed (max 10%), and maximum allowable seed moisture of 8%. These quality specifications are very essential and beneficial to all the players involved in the production, marketing, and processing of rapeseed and mustard. Otherwise, it is totally unjustifiable and unhealthy to give a remunerative price for inferior agricultural produce. In fact, in the future, there is vast scope to optimise the economic efficiency of the operation of MSP for rapeseed and mustard by ensuring the sufficiency of required infrastructural facilities across the state, along with mass public awareness, concurrent and ex-post monitoring, and evaluation of the operation of this programme. It is worthwhile to mention here that our esteemed media house, including both print and electronic media, can bring about a very satisfactory level of public awareness to make any welfare or developmental programme of any government a sure success. So let us understand this very fact and come forward in time so that maximum benefit can be realised by maximum farm families and make this historic market support programme of our government a grand success.