How Diversifying Public Procurement of Grains Can Resolve the Impasse Over MSP
By shifting from rice and wheat crops, which get overemphasis both in terms of cultivation and procurement, to coarse grains such as bajra, maize can go a long way in correcting issues concerned with MSP. Credit: Reuters/Amit Dave
Government06/Mar/2021
Talks between the Indian government and representatives of farmersâ unions leading the protest movement against the three hastily passed farm laws seems to have reached a stalemate. At the centre of the disagreement lies the existing system of government procurement and minimum support price (MSP).
Farmers are worried that the farm laws will undermine the system of state-mandated procurement at remunerative minimum support prices. This, they argue, will increase volatility in farm incomes, and lead to rising indebtedness and a fall in living standards. Existing evidence and their own experience suggest that their worries are amply warranted.