Ahead of MSP panel meet, farmers seek representation in policy making

They also want legal Guarantee of MSP linked to District-wise Area Production Plan

Umesh Kumar from Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh grows a variety of crops in a 22-acre plot ranging from sugarcane to wheat and rice or even horticulture crops.

Despite being a fairly large farmer, Kumar feels that farmers never get to have any say in agriculture policies framed by the central or the state government.

“Farmers should be equal participants in any policy, which is made for the agriculture sector. A beginning could be made by including them in the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP), which is the panel that sets the minimum support price (MSP),” Kumar told Business Standard.

While Kumar wanted to have a say in policy making, many others in his trade were concerned about MSP and climate change impacting their crops and fields.

Around 19 farmers from 13 states had gathered in the capital during the Independence Day weekend for a unique interaction with subject experts and opinion leaders.

The aim was to frame a clear charter of demands that could be included in the deliberations that are scheduled to take place in the first-ever meeting of the high-powered panel.

The panel was formed by the government to make MSP more transparent and effective as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while repealing the three farm Acts last year.

NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand, IIM-Ahmedabad professor Sukhpal Singh, IFFCO chairman Dilip Sanghani, secretaries of the department of agriculture, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), food and consumer affairs and cooperation and textiles also form part of the panel.

The three days of deliberations, which started on August 15 and was called the ‘Citizens Jury’ process, was facilitated by Socratus Foundation.

The foundation is an organisation that works on creating deliberative spaces to discuss complex problems around the world.

During the three-day event, farmers heard a cross-section of viewpoints by academics, independent experts, media and decision makers from different schools of thought.

Once the experts presented their views, the farmers were free to question their perspectives. And, once a concrete view emerged, it was made part of the recommendations.

The topics discussed included anything and almost everything related to different aspects of a farmers’ life in India. It was not just production but even climate change and environment, global trade, markets, public finance, subsidies and even social security.

“A big problem that a farmer faces is difficulty in accessing government schemes and delay in getting the benefits,” said Twarku Devi from Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, who was one of the participants.

She said for big farmers, it is easy to get access to the benefits. She grows apples, small-sized pomegranates and vegetables on a small land and getting a basic subsidy on small farm equipment takes at least 6-8 months.

“In several schemes, the money has to be spent upfront. After that, the government subsidises the amount at a later stage. For small growers, spending a big sum is difficult,” Devi said.

The academicians and experts who presented their opinions are known to have held diverse views on various issues pertaining to agriculture.

The experts ranged from Yogendra Yadav of Jai Kisan Andolan, who was also a prominent face of the year-long farmers’ agitation in Delhi’s borders to Kavitha Kuruganti of ASHA. Then, there were free market proponents like Gunvant Patil from Shetkari Sanghatana to Anil Ghanwant of the Swatantra Bharat Party. Members of the government’s MSP panel such as CSC Sekhar from the Indian Institute of Economic Development and Patil heard the views of farmers.

“One of the panelists spoke very highly about MSP and its importance. To this, farmers asked how many of them actually benefited from the system,” Kumar said.

Following the high-octane deliberations, a series of conclusions were drawn up.

These included issues such as the need for farmers and the government to innovate to adapt to climate change and putting in place a process through which horticulture produce can be procured for local anganwadis. Then there was the issue of mid-day meals and starting a system for price risk insurance that should be transparent and fair.

On the vexed issue of MSP, the ‘Citizens Jury’ advocated a legal guarantee but one which is linked to India’s requirements, nutritional needs and environment.

“India should have an area production plan, which is made by consultation with district, state and national-level committees. It should be done after considering a district’s PDS needs and local ecology.

Instead of one district, one crop, in every district, only some crops should have MSP benefits and not others,” the Jury concluded.

What Farmers Want

• Farmers and governments need to innovate to adapt to climate change
• Farmers should be given carbon credits for agro-forestry and other carbon-friendly farming practices
• On how tenant farmers can be recognised and connected to government benefits
• Local vegetables and fruits should be given in anganwadis
• Also, mid-day meals will improve the nutrition and farmer incomes
• Call for starting price risk insurance