Govt hikes paddy MSP by Rs 100 a quintal, sharpest rise in soybean

This was decided at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

At a briefing later, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said with the increase in the MSP, farmers will get a “better” price for their crops and procurement will also be done.

Among all kharif crops for which the MSP has been announced, soyabean (yellow) has seen the maximum hike of 8.86 per cent — from Rs 3,950 per quintal in kharif marketing season (KMS) 2021-22 to Rs 4,300 per quintal in KMS 2022-23. Soyabean, mainly grown in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana and Gujarat, is one of the nine oilseeds and is a major source of edible oil in the country. The increase is significant in view of the recent spike in edible oil prices.

Among other kharif oilseeds, the MSP of sesamum has been increased by 7.16 per cent — -from Rs 7,307 in 2021-22 to Rs 7,830 per quintal for 2022-23; sunflower seed by 6.40 per cent — from Rs 6,015 per quintal to Rs 6,400 per quintal; groundnut by 5.41 per cent — from Rs 5,550 per quintal to Rs 5, 850 per quintal; and nigerseed by 5.15 per cent — from Rs 6,930 per quintal to Rs 7,287 per quintal.

In fact, in percentage terms, the hike in MSP for all 5 kharif oilseeds for 2022-23 is higher than the percentage increase in 2021-22 over 2020-21. In 2021-22, the MSP of soyabean (yellow) saw an increase of only 1.8 per cent, sunflower seed 2.21 per cent, nigerseed 3.51 per cent, groundnut 5.21 per cent and sesamum 6.59 per cent.

Among kharif pulses, the MSP of moong has been increased by 6.60 per cent — from Rs 7,225 per quintal in 2021-22 to Rs 7,755 per quintal for 2022-23. However, tur (arhar) and urad have seen a lower hike of 4.76 per cent each — from Rs 6,300 per quintal in 2021-22 to Rs 6,600 per quintal for 2022-23.

In the kharif cereals, the MSP of paddy (common) has been increased by 5.15 per cent from Rs 1,940 per quintal in 2021-22 to Rs 2,040 quintal for 2022-23. The absolute increase in the paddy (common) MSP of Rs 100 per quintal is the highest since 2018-19, when the government had announced a hike of Rs 200 per quintal — from Rs 1550 per quintal in 2017-18 to Rs 1750 per quintal in 2018-19 — to implement its decision of fixing the MSP at “a level of at least 50 per cent over the All-India weighted.” The MSP of paddy (grade A) has been fixed at Rs 2,060 per quintal for 2022-23, which is 5.1 per cent higher than Rs 1,960 per quintal in 2021-22.

Jowar (hybrid) and jowar (maldandi) MSP have been fixed at Rs 2,970 and Rs 2,990 per quintal respectively, which are 8.47 per cent and 8.41 per cent higher than Rs 2,738 and Rs 2,758 in 2021-22. The maize MSP has increased by 4.92 per cent to Rs 1,962 per quintal for 2022-23 from Rs 1,870 per quintal in 2021-23. The MSP for ragi has seen a hike of 5.95 per cent from Rs 3,337 per quintal in 2021-22 to Rs 3,578 per quintal in 2022-23.

Among all kharif crops, the lowest increase of 4.44 per cent has been in the case of bajra for which the MSP has been raised from Rs 2,250 per quintal in 2021-22 to Rs 2,350 per quintal in 2022-23.

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The MSP for cotton (medium staple) has been raised from Rs 5,726 to Rs 6,080, while for cotton (long staple) it has been fixed at Rs 6,380 — up from Rs 6,025 last year.

An official statement said, “Government has increased the MSP of Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2022-23 to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce and to encourage crop diversification.”

“Concerted efforts have been made over the last few years to realign the MSP in favour of oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals to encourage farmers to shift larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies and farm practices, to correct demand-supply imbalance,” it said.

Commenting on the MSP announcement, Suresh Nagpal, chairman, COOIT (Central Organisation for Oil Industry & Trade), said, “The hike in MSP of oilseeds is a step in the right direction.”

“As farmers get a secured price for their crops, it will encourage more and more farmers to grow oilseeds as well as prompt them to shift away from grains. The area under oil seed cultivation has been on a steady rise over the last few years and with today’s rise, we expect it to rise further. As a result of secured price (MSP) provided by the government, the cultivation of mustard seed reached 91.44 lakh hectares during the last rabi crop season. Needless to say, it will benefit farmers, customers and other stakeholders as a whole,” Nagpal said, adding that India has a golden opportunity to become self-reliant in terms of oilseeds.