NEW DELHI: With adequacy of minimum support price (MSP) for procurement of crops invariably being a bone of contention among stakeholders, Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah on Friday challenged the opposition parties to discuss it wherever and whenever they want to discuss.Some farmers and opposition parties want to talk about MSP.
I would like to openly challenge members of the opposition parties to discuss it wherever they want to discuss as the government is always ready for this, said Shah while addressing a conclave on farmers producer organisation in the cooperative sector.Citing example of how the MSP has been increased significantly and procurement operations have been strengthened under the Modi government, he said there has been an increase of 55% in MSP of paddy and 51% of MSP of wheat in the past nine years.He said the present government is the first after independence that has fixed a minimum 50% profit over the cost of production incurred by farmers.Referring to procurement of crops at MSP, Shah said that the government has increased paddy procurement by 88% which means paddy procurement has been doubled, while wheat procurement has been increased by over two-thirds, that is 72%, in the past nine years.
The number of beneficiaries has almost doubled during the period, he added.He also flagged that the budget allocation for the agriculture sector has increased by 5.6 times from Rs 21,000 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1.15 lakh crore in 2023-24, saying it showcases the priority given by the Prime Minister and the government to agriculture.Shah along with agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar also released an action plan for formation of 1,100 new FPOs by primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) and urged both FPOs and PACS to operate in a hybrid model under which around 11,770 FPOs that have already been set up can link themselves with PACS through an agreement to provide services to cooperative members.FPO is an organisation of farmer producers that provides support to small farmers with end-to-end services covering almost all aspects of cultivation from inputs, technical services to processing and marketing.
Shah pitched for linking FPOs with PACS so that more and more farmers can be benefitted.Stressing the need for such linkages, he said, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is very important for any country.
If you increase GDP through manufacturing, the job creation will not be much.
On the other hand, if you strengthen agriculture and allied sectors through cooperatives, not only GDP but job opportunities will also increase.In addition to existing FPOs, the government has set a target to set up 10,000 FPOs by 2027-28 under the aegis of the agriculture ministry.
Of which, the cooperative ministry has been given the mandate to set up 750 FPO and recently another 1,100 FPOs.