The Hindu : Front Page : MSP hike for paddy doubtful

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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MSP hike for paddy doubtful

HYDERABAD: The Centre has given strong indications to the State Government that it may not be in a position to concede the demand for increasing the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy to Rs. 1,000 a quintal on a par with wheat as it would entail a huge financial burden.

It has pointed out that it would be apt to compare rice but not paddy with wheat. One quintal of paddy after de-husking yields about 65 kg of rice, including brokens, whereas there was virtually no wastage in wheat when ground into flour.

Considering the present MSP of Rs. 695 a quintal of paddy (common variety), the price of rice worked out to Rs. 1,050 a quintal as against the MSP of Rs. 1,000 a quintal for wheat, officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture are said to have argued.

Moreover, in light of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s reported views against hike in the MSP for paddy, the State Government is reworking its strategy to impress upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr. Pawar the need to increase the price in the interest of farmers.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy informed a meeting of the Cabinet that he would visit New Delhi on November 2 to mount pressure on the Centre.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s office said Dr. Reddy had contacted his counterparts in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and other paddy-growing States to lobby with the Centre for enhancing the minimum support price of paddy.

They pointed out that it would be difficult to argue with the Centre without the support of other States because Agriculture Ministry officials were saying that Andhra Pradesh alone had been raising the demand for hike in MSP whereas its paddy production constituted just seven per cent of the country’s production.

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