Editorial

FIGHTING ON TO GET FARMERS THEIR DUE

Always keen to protect the interest of farmers, the government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged the Centre to hike the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs. 2,930 per quintal which, it thinks, will be a fair compensation for their produce. The farmers are apparently not happy with the Centre’s recent announcement on raising the MSP of paddy marginally by Rs 72 per quintal to Rs 1,940 per quintal for the 2021-22 crop year. This is being seen as a notional increase which will not benefit the agriculturists in any significant manner.

The state government has been vigorously campaigning for a substantial increase in the MSP of all kinds of farm produce, especially paddy which happens to be Odisha’s main crop. The government has argued that a major hike in the MSP of paddy had become imperative as farmers in Odisha are invariably at the receiving end of natural calamities including cyclones and floods which play havoc with their crops. Cyclone Yaas that made a landfall on the Odisha coast on May 26 wreaked widespread damage, flattening crops in large areas. Crops were also destroyed due to flooding caused by the torrential rains that accompanied the gale. Agricultural fields close to the sea suffered heavily due to saline inundation.

Hence, the Chief Minister is fully justified in demanding a substantial hike in the MSP of paddy of which it is one of the biggest producers in the country. His government, in fact, has been pressurizing the Centre for past sometime to raise the MSP in tune with the Swaminathan committee report, a demand which has also been echoed by a large section of the farming community.

The MSP of paddy has been a major issue in Odisha where farmers often complain about not getting remunerative prices for their produce. In districts such as Bargarh, which is also known as the rice bowl of the state, farmers with surplus stocks are sometimes forced to resort to distress sale. If the Centre concedes to Odisha’s demand for a substantial MSP hike, such problems will get automatically resolved and no farmer will ever need to resort to distress sale of his crop.

The Naveen Patnaik administration has also been trying to help farmers in various other ways by formulating innovative schemes to protect their interests. For example, the government has spent a whopping Rs 6,690 crore under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme to provide assistance to farmers over the past three years. A unique initiative, KALIA has earned praise not only from farmers but also experts on the economy who have hailed it for seeking to empower farmers across categories without making them dependent on government loans. Thanks to schemes such as KALIA, farmers in Odisha remain a happy lot and they stand solidly behind the government as it renews the demand for a substantial hike in the MSP of paddy.

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Comments (1)

  1. Our beloved CM is always keen to protect the interests of the farmers and has urged the centre to hike minimum support price of paddy to benefit the farmers. Our beloved CM is always keen for a substantial increase in MSP of all kinds of farm produce as the farmers in the state face the natural calamities every year in various seasons.
    Our beloved CM has also formulated innovative schemes like KALIA to provide assistance in the income of the farmers and augment their livelihood to empower them in a dignified way .
    Bande Utkal janani

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