Parliament Question: Farmers Organisations Demand

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2729 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 04TH AUGUST, 2026 FARMERS ORGANISATIONS DEMAND 2729. SHRI K RADHAKRISHNAN: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government proposes to provide a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agricultural produce as demanded by farmers' organisations; (b) the details of crops procured under MSP during the last three years, State-wise, including Kerala; and (c) the reasons for not extending effective MSP procurement to a larger number of crops and farmers? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं िकसान क(cid:670)ाण रा(cid:475)मं(cid:361)ी (SHRI RAM NATH THAKUR) (a) to (c): Every year, Government fixes Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for 22 mandated agricultural crops for the country as a whole, based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP), after considering the views of the State Governments and Central Ministries/Departments concerned. The inclusion of crops under MSP framework is dependent on several factors which include relatively large shelf life, widely grown, item of mass consumption, essential for food security, among others. The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced the pre-determined principle to keep MSPs at levels of at least one and half times of the cost of production. Accordingly, Government had increased MSPs for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a minimum margin of 50 percent over all India weighted average cost of production from year 2018-19 onwards. Out of the total production, only marketable surplus is available for procurement by Government agencies when market price of these produce falls below the MSP. Government procures cereals and coarse cereals through Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other designated State Agencies to provide price support to the farmers. Procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra is done under Price Support Scheme under umbrella scheme of Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM- AASHA), on the request of the concerned State Government as per the guidelines as and when market price of these produce fall below the MSP. Procurement agencies under PM-AASHA Scheme are National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and National Co-operative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF). Cotton and Jute are also procured by Government at MSP through Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and Jute Corporation of India (JCI), respectively.Increased MSP has benefited farmers of the country including farmers of Kerala which are evident from data of procurement of MSP crops. The procurement details for All States and Kerala during the last three years, are furnished below: All India 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Procurement (In LMT) 1089.05 1214.12 1275.93 Kerala Procurement (In LMT) 5.60 5.63 4.74 The crop-wise procurement of MSP crops during last three years are at Annexure. In Addition, adequate number of Procurement centres are opened by respective State Government Agencies, taking into account the production, marketable surplus, convenience of farmers and availability of other logistics / infrastructure such as storage and transportation etc. Temporary purchase centres, in addition to the existing Mandis and depots/godowns are also established at key points. The procurement operation is a continuously evolving process and during the last few years, procurement processes under Minimum Support Price (MSP) have improved to ensure payment of MSP to farmer’s bank account directly and linkage of Aadhaar and Land records with the central and State’s procurement portals ensuring the farmers directly get the benefits of the MSP purchase. Other important initiatives to strengthen procurement process by FCI include deployment of biometric based procurement system, Integration of Digitized Mandi/Procurement centre operation.Annexure Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2729 due for reply on 04.08.2026 Crop-Wise Procurement of MSP Crops during last three Years (figures in LMT) All MSP Crops 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Paddy 782.20 822.80 825.57 Wheat 266.05 300.35 357.57 Other Cereals 12.55 11.01 13.93 Pulses 6.94 18.40 31.24 Oilseeds 13.07 43.16 29.75 Commercial 8.24 18.41 17.86 (Jute, Copra, Cotton) Total 1089.05 1214.12 1275.93 *****