Terrified by the findings of farmers’ Minimum Support Price (MSP) Loot Calculator, the central government has released an advertisement that only speaks half-truth regarding paddy procurement, said Jai Kisan Andolan (JKA) leader Yogendra Yadav on March 31, 2021.
Shortly after, farmers began posting daily assessments of various crop procurements over march 2021, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar released an advertisement titled “MSP Tha, MSP hai, MSP Rahega” (MSP was, is and will remain). In it, Tomar said that the government procured 692 million tonnes (crore quintal) of paddy in this season till March 29, 14 percent higher than the government purchases in March 2020.
However, farmers said this statement is only partly true. Yadav said that three facts need to be considered that are glossed over by government claims.
He pointed out that the government is still lagging behind its own target of procuring 738 million tonnes in this year despite early arrival of crops in 2021. As a result, the government can claim excess purchases only after the completion of the season.
Further, paddy government procurement is only 38 percent of the total production in India. Even if the 738 million tonnes target is achieved, the procurement will still remain 41 percent of total paddy production, indicating that a majority of farmers have not received the benefit of MSP.
Moreover, this pan-India figure of excess procurement is based on excess procurement only in some states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Haryana have reported much lesser procurement than last year.
“The government data once again proves that for most farmers, MSP has remained only on paper and this will continue if such administrative attitude continues. The JKA has been running MSP loot calculator for the last two weeks and demanding that farmers get the legal right to MSP so that every farmer can get MSP,” said Yadav.
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