MSP fixing mechanism comes under review

new delhi: the government is considering bringing about changes in the mechanism for fixing the minimum support price including giving more weightage to market price of commodities rather than cost of cultivation. "to achieve 7 per cent growth in agriculture and sustain the target of 210 million tonne output, government invites suggestions from experts on streamlining the msp fixing mechanism," union agriculture secretary j n l srivastava said. the production cost and price fetched play an important role in overall output and are also crucial for framing the strategy on various issues in the wto fora. to ensure better realisation and margins for the farmer, 26 commodities had been brought under the msp scheme. inaugurating the national workshop on cost of production of principal crops, he said a major issue before the policy makers at present was whether the msp should be guided by market price or cost of output. citing an example he said in the us, market intervention price was fixed after taking into account the five year average of market prices. he said government wanted a debate on the issue to arrive at a reasonable msp for various commodities which is fixed after taking into consideration 11 factors including production cost, domestic and international prices, consumer price index and index of industrial production. he expressed satisfaction that despite two major states, andhra pradesh and madhya pradesh, facing drought, the country was likely to achieve 7 per cent growth with a total output of 210 million tonnes, this fiscal.