Parliament Question: Procurement at MSP under PM-AASHA

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3855 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 27/03/2026 PROCUREMENT AT MSP UNDER PM-AASHA 3855. SMT. REKHA SHARMA : Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state: (a) the manner in which Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) is ensuring effective Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement for farmers; (b) the crops and States covered under the scheme; (c) whether farmers are receiving remunerative prices for their produce; and (d) the steps taken to strengthen procurement infrastructure and market access? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR) (a): Government implements Price Support Scheme (PSS) under Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) on the request of State/UT Government for procurement of prescribed Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of notified pulses, oilseeds and copra at Minimum Support Price (MSP) through Central Nodal Agencies within the stipulated period as and when the market prices of these commodities fall below the notified MSP during peak harvesting period to provide remunerative price to the pre-registered farmers. To encourage domestic production & ensure remunerative prices to farmers, procurement of Tur, Urad and Masur from the pre-registered farmers is undertaken as much as offered by them through the Central Nodal Agencies under Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses till 2030-31. Further, Price Deficit Payment Scheme (PDPS) component envisages direct payment of the difference between the MSP and the selling / modal price to pre-registered farmers selling oilseeds of prescribed FAQ norms within the stipulated period in the notified market yard through a transparent auction process. This scheme does not involve any physical procurement. Announcement of Minimum Support Price (MSP) by the Government and sanction of procurement at MSP by Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs), impacts markets positively improving market price, even at or above MSP. Farmers participating in procurement as well as those selling in the open market benefit from the MSP announcement. Farmers decide the quantity of produce for sale at MSP based on their marketable surplus. Further, they are free to sell their produce anywhere if they get better price than the MSP. (b): PM-AASHA is implemented across the country. The crops covered under PSS of PM- AASHA are notified oilseeds (Groundnut, soybean, sunflower, sesamum, nigerseed, rapeseed/mustard, safflower), pulses (arhar, moong, urad, gram & masur) and copra (ball & milling).Apart from the above, the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) component of PM-AASHA covers agricultural and horticultural commodities that are not included under MSP procurement and are perishable in nature. (c) & (d): sir. Due to the implementation of the PSS, when market prices fall below MSP, farmers are getting the remunerative price of their produce during the peak arrival period and preventing them from resorting to distress sale. To protect farmers from exploitation, adequate number of procurement centers are opened under PSS .Wide publicity is done by State Government , Central Nodal Agencies and State Agencies for providing information on FAQ quality parameters, procurement dates, procurement centers so that farmers may bring their produce to sell in the Procurement Centers. The payment of MSP is made directly into farmer’s bank account. MIS provides remunerative prices to the farmers for agricultural and horticultural commodities which are perishable in nature and are not covered under the Minimum Support Price regime. The objective is to protect the farmers from distress sale in the event of a bumper crop during the peak arrival, when prices tend to fall below cost of production. The scheme is implemented at the request of a State/UT government, which is ready to bear 50 % of the loss (25% in case of North-Eastern States), if any, incurred on its implementation. New components of PDPS with an option to make direct payment of the price difference between the Market Intervention Price (MIP) and the selling price to the farmers for the crops traded in the APMC mandis has been added. Additionally, reimbursement for transportation and storage cost of TOP crops (Tomato, Onion and Potato) to central nodal agencies & State designated agencies for storing and transporting them from producing state to consuming state are allowed. Further, from 2025-26 season, for procurement under PSS, it has been made mandatory to use farmer biometric through Aadhaar enabled PoS machine or facial authentication through mobile app in the procurement centres for authentication of genuine farmers before the purchase of produce from them. Further, Central Nodal Agencies have also been allowed to procure pulses (Tur, Masur, Urad and Gram) directly from pre-registered farmers through their procurement centres. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme mobilizes medium- to long-term debt financing for development of agricultural infrastructure at farm-gate and aggregation levels to strengthen supply chains, reduce post-harvest losses and promote value addition. Under AIF, interest subvention of 3% per annum is provided on loans up to ₹2 crore and credit guarantee coverage is available for eligible borrowers for loans up to ₹2 crore under CGTMSE, with the guarantee fee borne by the Government. As on 13.03.2026 loans amounting to ₹84,681 crore have been sanctioned for 1,71,267 projects under the scheme, mobilising an estimated investment of ₹1,34,319 crore in the agriculture sector. Government has launched the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), an online trading platform integrating Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis across the country to facilitate transparent price discovery and better market access. So far, 1,656 mandis across 23 States and 4 Union Territories have been integrated and transacted Rs.4.82 Lakh Crore trade. Government is promoting Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) under the Central Sector Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs to strengthen collective marketing and improve farmers' bargaining power. So far, 5,048 FPOs are registered on e-NAM and 6,070 FPOs are onboarded on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) for online marketing. Financial assistance is provided for the construction of godowns/warehouses though the Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI). Under this scheme, 49,796 warehouses have been sanctioned from inception up to January 2026, with a total storage capacity of 982.94 Lakh Metric Tonnes. In addition, 25,009 agricultural marketing infrastructure projects, other than storage, have also been sanctioned. *****