Haryana Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar said today that the state government is implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission in a step-wise manner and is offering the highest-ever compensation and incentives to farmers.
He was replying to a question about farmers' agitation in the state over the demand for crop loan waiver and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations.
The national commission on farmers, headed by eminent agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, in its final report had said that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be at least 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production.
Dhankar told reporters here that while the report of the Swaminathan Commission was submitted to the government many years back but the previous state government led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had failed to implement its recommendations.
"In fact, Hooda had formed a committee which further delayed the implementation of the recommendations of this report," Dhankar alleged.
He said that while the report had recommended compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre to farmers, the government led by Hooda paid them only Rs 6,000 per acre. The present state government has given Rs 12,000 per acre to farmers as compensation, he said.
"Apart from this, the Haryana government is making rapid strides, especially compared to other states, in implementing the recommendations of the commission, such as making agriculture risk-free for farmers, providing zero-interest loans and encouraging crop diversification," he added.
"The Haryana Government is working to make farmers self-sufficient by fixing a target to increase their income to Rs one lakh per acre. However, it is a reality that farmers in all corners of the world require assistance in the form of subsidies as the agriculture sector does not result in earnings as high as those in the services sector," he said.
Therefore, the state government offers subsidies to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore per year, he added.
The minister invited all farmers' organisations for talks regarding their demands, and said that they should keep raising their issues so that the government resolves them in a timely manner.
"We want the farmers to maximise their profits, and provide them support by offering Minimum Support Price for their produce," he added.
Replying to another question, he said that while drastic changes in selling price of produce were the result of market forces, the government was working on a plan to seek possibilities for stabilising prices of staples such as potato, cauliflower, tomato and onion.
"It is being considered to levy more taxes when prices improve, and use the funds thus collected for farmers' welfare when the prices drop," he added.
To another question regarding the sunflower crop in the State, Dhankar said that the Centre had been requested to procure 50 per cent of the produce.
Describing his recent tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as fruitful, the minister said that the delegation led by him had studied the techniques being adopted for horticulture, floriculture, dairying, animal husbandry, storage and transportation of wheat, which would now be replicated in Haryana as per feasibility.
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