Income, not MSP: Policies favour the consumer, not the producer

Syllabus: GS- III

Subject: Economy

Topic: Agriculture and Allied

Issue: Minimum Support Price

Context: Farmers protest at Delhi’s border.

Increasing the farmer’s Income:

• The future of Indian agriculture’s potential and farmers’ incomes lies more in livestock, fisheries, and horticulture.
• the biggest agricultural produce of India is milk, and its value exceeds the value of paddy, wheat, all pulses, and sugarcane combined.
• Livestock and horticulture together constitute more than 50 per cent of agri-produce.
• their growth is much higher (5 to 8 per cent) than the growth in cereals (1.8 per cent) over the last two decades.
• these commodities need a well-integrated value chain approach.
• There is a need provide farmers access to the best markets not only in India but across the world.
• The fundamental problem of today’s agri-food policies is that they are highly tilted towards consumers at the cost of farmers.