The Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) has already prepared a work plan to determine and implement the MSP of paddy taking into account the costs of production and transportation from farm to the nearest market and profit margin for farmers, Prabhakar Pathak, spokesperson at the MoAD told Republica on Monday.[break]
As per the plan, worked out jointly by Ministry of Finance (MoF), Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS), Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), the MSP of paddy would be 20 percent higher than the cost of production.
"We will gradually fix the MSP of wheat and maize as well, both highly consumed cereal in the country after paddy,” Pathak told Republica.
MoAD, which used to set the MSP earlier, has forwarded the work plan to theMoCS asking it to bring the proposal to the cabinet.
The cabinet meeting held last week had given its consent to the MoAD to bring the proposal through MoCS for approval.
“We have received a copy of the proposed work plan for MSP from the MoAD. We will soon forward it to the cabinet for endorsement before the MoAD initiates the process to fix MSP,” Lal Mani Joshi, secretary at the MoCS told Republica on Monday.
Citing lack sufficient infrastructure and proper plans for storing the paddy procured from farmers, the government had stopped fixing the MSP from 1996/97, making it mandatory for the government to buy products they couldn´t find market.
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