Agriculture Ministry officials get ready for Monday's meeting with protesting farmers

NEW DELHI: A day after breaking bread and arriving at a consensus on the draft electricity bill and air pollution ordinance, officials of the agriculture ministry are busy framing strategies to convince protesting farmers on the three farm laws and MSP in their next meeting on January 4.

A ministry official said: "The electricity bill and air quality ordinance are not related to the agriculture ministry. The Centre has agreed to decriminalise stubble burning and continue the current mechanism of providing subsidised power for agricultural use. The real test begins now... The government and farmers' unions are set to discuss the three farm laws and MSP."

The protesting farmers are demanding that the three farm laws be repealed and MSP should get a legal backing. The government is also sticking to its guns that the new laws are for the good of farmers and has asked the farmers' unions to suggest an alternative. The government has also proposed a committee to review the existing MSP mechanism and suggest ways to maximise benefits for farmers by tweaking the system.


The official said that the government has received several suggestions on MSP. "A price guarantee may distort the agri-market ecosystem. Traders may not be willing to pay a fixed amount irrespective of the demand-supply situation. Moreover, the government can't buy all the produce from farmers and become a trader."

One of the suggestions was to pay the differential price to farmers if the market price of the commodity is less than MSP. "This system is already in place under the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme for oilseeds for which MSP is notified. But there are a lot of leakages in the system and the government abstains from following it on a large scale," the official said.

"The government's current spending on foodgrain procurement is Rs 2.79 lakh crore every year. It majorly procures wheat, rice, cotton and some quantities of oilseeds and pulses," said another official, adding if the government decides to procure all crops then it will have to pay Rs 5.21 lakh crore in addition to the current spending on procurement.