The Delhi government will hold a farmers' conference on Tuesday over the implementation of M.S. Swaminathan Committee Report on Agriculture, Development Minister Gopal Rai said on Monday.
Last month, the government had formed an expert committee comprising of a senior scientist from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), farmers' representatives and officers of the agriculture department for drafting the Agricultural Policy for Delhi.
The Committee has deliberated upon various issues pertaining to agriculture in Delhi.
"One of the important issues before the Committee was to give recommendations on separate Minimum Support Price (MSP), 50 per cent more than the weighted cost of production taking into the consideration the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee Report on farmers," Rai said.
The Committee held a couple of meetings under the chairmanship of Rai, and various issues regarding implementation of the Swaminathan Committee Report in context of Delhi were discussed.
"It was felt that the cost of production should be calculated keeping in view the scenario of Delhi like increased wages of labour, cost of inputs and allied components in the market of Delhi," he said.
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Accordingly, a committee of officers of the agricultural unit was constituted for the purpose of calculating the cost of cultivation of wheat, paddy and mustard crop of Delhi.
"The committee has worked out the cost of production and is in the process of calculating the average cost of production," the Minister said.
"To further deliberate on these issues and to arrive at a reasonable weighted cost of production and to suggest at separate MSPs for farmers of Delhi, the farmers' conference has been convened at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday," he said.
The members of the committee constituted for drafting agricultural policy, farmers and other stakeholders, and officers of the agricultural department of Odisha and Telangana government have also been invited for the brainstorming session, he added.
The final decision will be arrived at after further consultations with all stakeholders.
--IANS
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