Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Centre to review the procedure for fixing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops to make it "more remunerative in order to improve the viability of farming".
Badal has taken up the methodological issues to determine MSP with the Ministry of Agriculture. He said while fixing MSP the authorities should also take into account the managerial and supervision cost of farmers.
According to an official statement today, he said the Punjabi farmers should be duly compensated for aptly managing their farms due to their inherent skills, vast expertise and experience of innovative farm practices, which they had acquired from their ancestors over past several generations.
He said since a farmer and his family work on the farm almost round-the-clock not only as labour but also as a skilled labour like drivers of machinery, they should be provided higher remuneration.
Badal said interest on working capital should be provided for the whole of a crop season as a major share of short-term credit was generally availed at the time of sowing of crops for arranging inputs such as seeds, diesel/hiring machinery, fertilisers and pesticides etc. And repaid after the harvest.
Batting for the implementation of renowned scientist M S Swaminathan's formula, Badal he said the MSP should include the cost of cultivation plus a margin of 50 per cent as suggested by the Chairman of the National Farmers Commission, so as to provide for the viability of farming and development of new infrastructure required for adoption of improved technologies.
Badal also impressed on the Union Government to ensure that the farmers must continue to get the prevailing market prices for their produce when any change was made in the import/ export regulations and tariffs to safeguard the interest of consumers.
The Chief Minister has deputed Punjab's Financial Commissioner Development Suresh Kumar to take up the entire matter of fixation of MSP with the Director of National Centre for Agriculture Economics and Policy Research, Ramesh Chand, who is heading a committee set up by Ministry of Agriculture to examine the methodological issues of fixing MSP.
