A price hike of ₹200 per quintal in paddy was announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party. This price hike will increase the price to ₹1750 per quintal in Chhattisgarh. Rice is the major crop grown in the state.
Even as the Minimum Support Price (MSP) was increased, the farmers remain unsatisfied. Due to inflation in the price of fertilizers and seeds, the price hike will barely cover the costs. Arang village farmers decried the MSP as ‘pointless’.
The farmers of Chhattisgarh were under the impression that BJP government will fulfil its promise of increasing the rate to ₹2100. The Chief Minister of the state, Raman Singh, requested in 2013 when he came to power, to the then Central Government led by Congress to hike the prices of the paddy to ₹2100 as the BJP declared it in its manifesto before.
An aggrieved farmer, Dwarika Sahu said, “For 10 quintals, the government is giving Rs 17,500 rupees. If you add a bonus of 300 rupees per quintal, then this support price increases to Rs 2,050 per quintal or Rs 20,500 per acre. But even so, for the farmer, that represents a loss of Rs 18,550 per acre,” FirstPost reported.
As reported by FirstPost, farmer leader Anand Mishra remarked, “Only six per cent of the farmer’s total produce has been purchased in the last four years. In such a situation, forget about the prime minister’s claims of doubling the farmer’s income. The remaining 94 per cent of the farmer’s produce is looted by agents and middlemen paying just two-thirds of MSP.”
Though defending the decision, Chhattisgarh’s agriculture minister, Brijmohan Agrawal, commented: “Chhattisgarh government is also providing a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal to the farmers, including which the farmers will get Rs 2,050 per quintal against paddy procurement. This decision is a boon for farmers of the state, bringing about a positive change in their lives.”