Centre Hikes Support Prices For Coarse Grains, Pulses And Oilseeds Sharply To Lure Growers Away From Foodgrains

The Union Government has increased the minimum support prices (MSP) for 17 Kharif (summer) crops for the crop year starting July trying to lure growers away from cultivating foodgrains.

The Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA) made the lowest hike in paddy MSP, both common and Grade A, by Rs 53 to Rs 1,868 and 1,888 a quintal (100 kg).

The MSP for key pulses such as tur (pigeon pea), urad (black matpe) and moong (greengram) by Rs 146 to Rs 300 a quintal compared with last year to Rs 6,000 for the first two and Rs 7,196 for the third one respectively.

Oilseeds have also got the CCEA’s attention with their MSP being increased by Rs 170 to Rs 755 a quintal. While the main kharif oilseed soybean’s MSP has been increased to Rs 3,880 a quintal, that of sunflower has been raised to Rs 5,885. MSP for groundnut is up by Rs 175 to Rs 5,275, while that of sesamum and nigerseed to 6,885 and Rs 6,695 a quintal.

The support price for cotton has been increased by Rs 260 a quintal for medium-staple to Rs 5,515 and for long-staple to Rs 5,825 a quintal.

MSP for coarse grains such as maize, jowar, ragi, and bajra was also raised between Rs 70 and Rs 150 a quintal.

A Press Information Bureau release said the MSP hike was in tune with the 2018-19 budget to fix the support price at 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production.

That way, most crops MSP is 1.5 times the cost of production, while that of bajra and urad are higher at 83 and 64 per cent respectively.

The Government wants growers to shift from foodgrains and diversify as the country is currently having huge stocks of rice and wheat.