Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to immediately implement the Swaminathan report for determining the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of crops. Disclosing this here on Monday, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said the Chief Minister said the central agency — Food Corporation of India (FCI) — should procure maize and sunflower on the pattern of wheat and paddy at MSP. Raising another issue to convert crop diversification programme to agriculture diversification, Badal asked the Prime Minister that the states be allowed to implement agriculture diversification programme given the ground realities and local needs. To ensure overall development and prosperity in the livestock sector across the state, the Chief Minister requested Modi to declare animal husbandry and allied agriculture activities like dairy, piggery, goatery, fishery, bee keeping, etc. at par with agriculture for exemption of income tax, interest rate etc. Likewise, he also demanded exemption from custom duty on the import of machinery for dairy farming and livestock rearing.
