In an apparent attack on Opposition parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said confusion was being spread about the decision in the Union Budget to fix the minimum support prices of crops at least 1.5 times the production cost.
Addressing a three-day Krishi Unnati Mela 2018 here, he assured farmers that all major costs incurred would be included while declaring the support price. The Centre was already working with the State governments to ensure that farmers got the benefit of the declared MSP.
Mr. Modi appealed to farmers not to burn crop residues so as to curb air pollution.
Besides, he asked farmers to grow more oilseeds to reduce dependence on imported cooking oil and cut urea consumption by at least half by 2022. In the Budget, the government took a decision to ensure right prices to farmers for their produce, he said.
Notified crops
It has decided that for all notified crops, MSP will be at least one-and-a- half times the cost, Mr. Modi said.
Many people were “spreading confusion and creating atmosphere of despair” regarding the government’s MSP decision, he said while sharing the detail of components to be considered while determining the cost of production for fixing the support price.
“The cost of production will include elements such as hired labour, expenses on their own or rented machinery as well as livestock, cost of seeds and fertilizers, expenses on irrigation, revenue being given to State government, interest on working capital, and rent of leased land among others,” he said. It will also include labour put by farmers and their family, he said. “This is an important decision related to income of farmers.”
