Farmer Protests: Increase Incomes Rather than MSP
Asia News Agency
Since February last year, farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been unsuccessfully attempting to enter the national capital, while demanding enactment of a law guaranteeing payment of the government-declared minimum support price (MSP) for all crops. One farm union leader has been on a hunger strike since November 26 — he has accepted medical aid on Day 55 of his fast. Then government has finally offered to hold talks, but only on February 14.
The ruling party’s recent electoral victories in Haryana and Maharashtra, according to The Indian Express, “leave it with sufficient bargaining position to convince the unions about the unreasonableness of the demand for a 'legal MSP’ (Minimum Support Price). Prices of crops, like all commodities, are or should be determined by the forces of supply and demand. Farmers must ultimately produce what the market wants. The government would do better to ensure well-functioning markets rather than fixing, leave alone guaranteeing, MSPs.”
MIS, not MSP, is the way forward
In any case, “the debate should move from guaranteeing minimum ‘prices’ for crops to assuring some kind of a minimum ‘income’ for farmers. There is already a 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ scheme (aims to supplement the financial needs of the Small and Marginal farmers) that provides Rs 6,000 annually to all landholding farmers. The quantum of income support under this scheme can, perhaps, be enhanced and even modified from a per-farmer to per-hectare or per-animal basis. All the taxpayer money now being spent on farm input subsidies — whether on fertiliser, electricity, water or credit — can be redirected and converted into direct income support. With pricing of crops and inputs left to the market, it will enable the government to focus on what farmers actually deserve — a minimum income so long as they continue to farm. MIS, not MSP, is the way forward.”
Legally binding MSP will not solve all farmer problems
The farmers have, nevertheless, once again resumed the protest, alleging that the government has failed to fulfil their demands, including that of a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for all crops.
Declining agricultural incomes, rising production costs and shrinking employment opportunities have exacerbated the Indian agricultural crisis. It is impacting small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers disproportionately. For millions of farmers, writes B S Sidhu (writes on Agriculture policies) “MSP is a beacon of hope, promising a reasonable return on their toil.”
However, “the MSP is only a part of the problem and farmers will still be struggling for optimum income due to small-sized and highly fragmented landholdings, increasing production costs, lack of demand-driven production and depleting natural resources, namely soil health and water, including groundwater.
“…..To ensure the sustainability and prosperity of agriculture, which is moving towards an ecological disaster, a tactical balance between economic viability and farmers’ welfare must be struck. A legally binding MSP, a crucial element of the agricultural price policy but no panacea for resolving the agrarian distress, is the minimum the government should do to keep the farmers in the business of supplying affordable food.”
