Onkar Singh / NEW DELHI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that MSP of Kharif at 150 per cent of input cost would be announced next week.
Interacting with a group of over 140 sugarcane farmers at his residence here, Mr Modi said, the Union Cabinet will take a decision in this regard in its forthcoming meeting for the notified crops of Kharif season 2018-19.
PM hoped that this would ensure a significant boost to the income of farmers.
Prime Minister also stated that within the next two weeks, the Fair and Remunerative Price for sugarcane for the sugar season of 2018-19 will also be announced. He also promised that it will be higher than the 2017-18 price.
He said, it will also provide an incentive for those farmers whose recovery from sugarcane will be higher than 9.5 per cent.
The Prime Minister apprised the farmers about the various decisions taken to liquidate the arrears of sugarcane farmers.
In the last seven to ten days itself, more than four thousand crore rupees of arrears have been given to the farmers as a result of new policy measures enforced.
Mr Modi further assured the farmers that State Governments have been requested to take effective measures for the liquidation of cane arrears.
The Prime Minister exhorted farmers to use sprinkler and drip irrigation, latest farming techniques, and solar pumps. He urged farmers to install solar panels in their farms as a source of power, as well as additional income. He called for emphasis on value addition of crops.
He also urged them to use farm waste judiciously, as a source of nutrients and for additional income. He exhorted farmers to aim for up to 10 per cent reduction in chemical fertilizers by 2022.
In the course of the interaction, the Prime Minister also recalled the earlier interventions made by the Union Government in 2014-15 and 2015-16, to ease the burden of sugarcane farmers, who were struggling under a huge amount of arrears worth more than Rs. 21,000 crore. This payment was ensured through sugar mills to farmers.
Meanwhile farmers attending the meet appreciated the various steps taken by the Centre in the recent past, including an increase in import duty on sugar from 50 to 100 per cent and provision of five rupees 50 paise per quintal as performance-based grant to sugar mills for payments to farmers.
Farmers also took note of Centre intervention to the tune of 1175 crore rupees as interest subvention support for 30 lakh metric tonnes of buffer stock by mills to enable payment to farmers.