Is legalising MSP workable? Agri economists talk about the pros and cons

The MSP scheme already exists and has been in existence for more than five decades. A legal guarantee simply provides a legislative co­ver to ensure proper imple­men­tation, argues Himanshu

As thousands of farmers demand legalising the minimum support price regime and the Centre reiterates its offer for talks, Sanjeeb Mukherjee asks two of the country’s leading agricultural economists about the pros and cons

Do you think a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) is possible?

C S C Sekhar: Legal guarantee to MSP is not impossible, but a very difficult and an inefficient solution. First, it is fiscally very expensive. Second, it is almost certain to lead to a large supply-demand mismatch, leading to a huge build-up of stocks in the short run. Third, it is logistically