The Minimum Support Price offered by the government is to support the farmers. However, the needy farmers are not able to derive benefits from the scheme. Explore the different causes for the same.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production. The farmers are paid a pre-announced price for their crops.
This price is called Minimum Support Price (MSP) which is declared by the government every year before the sowing season. This declaration provides incentives to encourage the farmers for raising the production of this product. But this MSP is not attractive to farmers. The reasons are :
- It clashes with free market forces.
- Farmers are not being able to take the benefits of MSP because of reasons like no or very little awareness about the market conditions and no connectivity. They continue to be exploited by the middlemen.
- As MSP mainly focuses on rice and wheat, farmers find it hard to grow nutritious crops.
- Delay in announcement of MSP by the government before sowing seasons leaves farmers in a dilemma over the choice of crops to be grown.