PMK says hike in minimum support price for paddy not sufficient

Chennai, June 9

Tamil Nadu's PMK, the political arm of the powerful Vanniyar community, on Thursday said that the hike in the minimum support price for paddy is not enough.

Founder-leader, Dr. S. Ramadoss, in a statement, noted that the MSP for paddy, common, and A-grade varieties was increased to Rs 2,040 and 2,160 a quintal, and with the state government's incentive price, would be procured at Rs 2,115 and Rs 2,160 respectively, but even though the revision was higher than that of the previous year, it was of no benefit to the farmers.

He urged the Central and state governments to increase the MSP and the incentive price so that paddy could be procured at Rs 3,000 per quintal.

Such procurement only will benefit the farmers of the state who are reeling under severe crop loss and the backlog of debts of the pandemic period, he said.

"When the cost of production of paddy is estimated to be around Rs 1,986 a quintal, this year only if the MSP is fixed at Rs 2,979 a quintal, by fixing a profit of 50% on top of production cost, it will be beneficial to the farmers to some extent."

The PMK leader said that the party would conduct awareness programmes on the woes of the paddy farmers and why the minimum support price fixed by the state government for this year was not enough for their survival.