Five crops at MSP for five years: Centre's offer to protesting farmers

The fourth round of talks between farmers and Union ministers concluded late Sunday night

The Centre has broached a proposal to buy the marketable surplus in the cases of masoor (lentil), urad (black gram), arhar, maize, and cotton over the next five years at their minimum support prices (MSPs) to break the logjam in talks with protesting farmers, Food Minister Piyush Goyal said late on Sunday.

However, the proposal has not found much traction  farmers with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Apolitical), which is spearheading the protests this time rejecting the offer. 

In terms of the central proposal, the purchases done through National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Feder­ation of India (Nafed), National Cooperative Consumers’ Fede­ration (NCCF), and Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) will be under a contractual agreement and will assist in diversification from paddy and wheat, Goyal said. 

 

Whether the purchases will be limited to those farmers who have diversified from wheat and paddy was not clear. “Cooperative societies like the NCCF and Nafed will enter into contracts with farmers who grow tur dal, urad dal, masoor dal or maize for buying their crop at MSPs for the next five years,” he said. 

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“There will be no limit on the quantity (purchased) and a portal will be developed for this,” he added.

Goyal proposed CCI buy cotton from farmers at the MSP for five years after entering into a legal agreement with them.

Abhimanyu Kohar, a spokesman for the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Apolitical), one of the main groups spearheading the current agitation, said in a video post: “We have received the proposal (from the Centre) ... We will discuss this among our Union members and come back with a view.”

He said the central side had sought some time regarding the remaining demands on loan waiver and others.

“We have told them we can wait till February 21, and after that, the farmers will start marching towards Delhi,” Kohar said.

Besides MSPs for crops, farmers are demanding a loan waiver, the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and withdrawal of police cases.

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The current agitation is being led primarily by farmers of Punjab and Haryana only.

“This is a wonderful option for diversification in Punjab. Cotton and maize with assured MSPs have the potential to become alternatives to paddy in some areas. Cotton, particularly in southwest Punjab, will be a great move. In the case of pulses we need to have better yields along with MSPs to compete with paddy. Pulses, being legumes, are beneficial for the soil. The attractiveness of pulses will rise if their environment contributions are internalised,” NITI Aayog Member and agriculture economist Ramesh Chand told Business Standard.

S Mahendra Dev, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) said a deficiency payment for the five crops was a good idea and would have a minimal impact on the state exchequer.

“This proposal will give some security to farmers while at the same won’t put undue burden on the finances. A legal guarantee for perpetuity might not be a good idea. A five-year contract is a better option,” Dev said.

A few months ago, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had launched a national portal through which farmers could sell tur at the MSP or market prices. He had said a similar facility would be extended to some other crops as well.

The fourth round of talks between the central team of ministers and the agitating farmers was held in Chandigarh on Sunday night, with farmers saying the government should avoid dilly-dallying and find a solution to their demands, including a legal guarantee for MSPs.

Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai participated in the talks, which concluded well past midnight.

“The government, in its earlier meetings, had offered us a suggestion to form a committee to understand the details of a legal guarantee of MSP, but we don’t want to settle for anything less than an ordinance, which can be done in the next guarantee,” a senior leader who was part of the negotiations had told Business Standard a few days back.