"Govt hike in MSP for Paddy, Pulse and Oilseeds"

• The Central government has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for common paddy to ₹1,940 a quintal for the coming kharif season, close to 4% higher than last year’s price of ₹1,868.
• Approved the MSP of 14 Kharif crops for the 2021-22 crop year (July-June)
• To encourage crop diversification, increases in the MSP for pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals.

MSP:

• The MSP is the rate at which the government purchases crops from farmers, and is based on a calculation of at least one-and-a-half times the cost of production incurred by the farmers.
• MSP is declared by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs before the sowing time on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)
• MSP does not have any legal backing.
• Currently, MSP for 23 crops is recommended by CACP, which comprise seven cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley and ragi), five pulses (gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil), seven oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, sesamum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed), and four commercial crops (copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute).