Government Okays Hiked Support Price For Kharif Crops

Keen to up the tempo on agricultural reforms, mindful of the farmers' agitation over the contentious farm laws and the controversial minimum support price (MSP) issue, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the increase in support price for kharif crops for the 2021-22 season.

The MSP for major crops like sesamum, tur and urad have been hiked, with the Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar saying that in case of sesamum, there has been the highest absolute increase of price at Rs 452 per quintal, followed by tur and urad. MSP for both have been fixed at Rs 300 per quintal.

The increase in MSP for kharif crops for marketing season 2021-22, official sources said, is in sync with the announcement made in the Union Budget for 2018-19 regarding fixing the prices at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production, in order to provide fair remuneration for farmers.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, for achieving self sufficiency in pulses production, a special kharif strategy has been formulated which would be implemented during the ongoing kharif season.

For this, a detailed mechanism has been prepared where both area expansion and productivity enhancement for tur, moong and urad will be implemented.

As part of this plan, all the available high-yielding varieties of seeds will be distributed free of cost to increase area through intercropping and sole crop, the statement said.