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Meagre hike in wheat MSP upsets farmers in Punjab and Haryana

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Vikas Sharma New Delhi/ Chandigarh
Last Updated : Jan 21 2013 | 12:53 AM IST

The minimum support price (MSP) of wheat announced by the Central government has not augur well with the farmers’ lobby in Punjab and Haryana, that is planning to hold protests against this.

Representatives of Bhartiya Kisan Union of different factions from Punjab and Haryana maintained they would be calling the panchayat of All India Farmers on November 25 at Amritsar to discuss the issue. Even economists in the state fear with cost of cultivation surpassing MSP, it could well increase the indebtedness of farmers and also result in making farmers reluctant to make investment in improving yield of the food grains.

President of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said they have called a meeting of farmers’ representatives from all across India on November 25 at Amritsar.

The meeting would discuss the issue regarding meagre MSP hike announced for wheat for the year 2011-12. Other farmer related issues would also be discussed in the meeting. Lakhowal maintained a clear cut strategy would be adopted by farmers as to how to carry forward the agitation.

OP Dhankar, national president, Kisan Morcha, Bharatiya Janata Party also maintained they would be organising kisan morchas across different regions to mobilise farmers and raise the issue of meagre MSP hike of wheat .

The MSP of wheat for the year 2011-12 has been fixed at Rs 1,285 per quintal compared to Rs 1,170 a quintal (including bonus) fixed last year.

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Farmers lobby factions in Punjab and Haryana maintained the MSP for wheat fixed this year is even less than the cost of cultivation, which was inexplicable.

Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union President (Tikait) Gurnam Singh maintained the hike in MSP of wheat this year is just 10 per cent.

According to the Haryana agriculture department, cost of cultivation of wheat for last year stood at Rs 1,218 per quintal. This year, with rise in input prices, especially fertilizers, cost of cultivation would move up and would be averaging around Rs 1,400 per quintal. However, the MSP of wheat announced is Rs 1,285 per quintal, which is below the cost of cultivation. Even the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) had recommended MSP of Rs 1,350 per quintal for wheat .

Apart from participating in the Panchayat of All India farmers at Amritsar, a protest rally would be organised in Haryana in the first week of December where farmers across the state would be called to join the rally, said Gurnam Singh.

Agriculture economists believe the meagre MSP hike could result in increasing the debt on farmers.

According to a study on farmers’ indebtedness in Punjab funded by the Punjab State Farmer Commission in 2007, 89 per cent farmer households are under debt (the field survey was conducted on a sample of 600 farm households covering 11 districts in Punjab ). The study tells that farmers’ perception about reasons of indebtedness revolves around low price of their produce and high prices of inputs.

Economists believe in cases when MSP is less than cost of cultivation, it could pose threat to improving yield and productivity of crops as farmers would be un interested in making investment to improve quality of the crop.

Area under wheat in Haryana has been averaging around 2.5 million hectares, while in neighbouring Punjab, the area has been averaging around 3.5 million hectares. With less chances of further area being added under the wheat crop, the agriculture department in both the states has been focusing on increasing productivity.

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First Published: Nov 09 2011 | 12:37 AM IST

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