Journalism of Courage
Centre approves MSPs for rabi crops, wheat sees 17-year-low hike
The modest increase this year is significant, given that major wheat-producing states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, hold their Assembly elections early next year.
The Centre has announced minimum support prices for six rabi crops for the 2027-28 marketing season (File photo).
The Centre announced Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for six rabi crops for the 2027-28 season on Wednesday, with wheat — India’s second-largest crop by acreage — receiving a 17-year-low hike of just Rs 25 per quintal, a marginal 0.97% increase.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) made the decision “to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce,” an official statement read.
The MSP of wheat is fixed at Rs 2,610 per quintal. The Rs 25 hike in the wheat MSP is the lowest in absolute terms since 2010-11. Last year, the government had hiked the MSP for wheat by 6.6% to Rs 2,585 per quintal
On this marginal hike, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “Wheat stocks are overflowing. We possess many times the amount actually required. Justice will be done to the farmers. Productivity for crops like pulses is very low, and efforts are being made to encourage their cultivation.”
The approved MSP is 106% of the cost of cultivation per quintal of wheat, Chouhan highlighted. The average annual area under wheat cultivation stood at 31.52 million hectares over the past five years.
The modest increase in wheat MSP this year is significant, especially given that major wheat-producing states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, hold their assembly elections early next year.
Other rabi crops
Wheat is one of the six officially mandated rabi crops in India under the government’s MSP system. The others are safflower, rapeseed and mustard, lentil, barley, and gram.
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Among the six, safflower saw the biggest hike in absolute and percentage terms, as its MSP increased by Rs 675, or 10.32%, to Rs 7,215 per quintal from Rs 6,540 per quintal announced last year.
The MSP of rapeseed and mustard for the 2027-28 season is fixed at Rs 6,613 per quintal, up by Rs 413, or 6.66%, from Rs 6,200 per quintal last year; and lentil (masur), at Rs 7,390 per quintal, up by Rs 390, or 5.57%, from Rs 7,000 last year.
The MSP of barley is fixed at Rs 2,286 per quintal, up by Rs 136, or 6.33%, from Rs 2,150 per quintal announced last year; and gram, at Rs 5,958 per quintal, up by Rs 83, or 1.41%, from Rs 5,875 per quintal.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government’s procurement in the upcoming season will be 324 lakh tonnes and that farmers will receive Rs 90,962 crore in MSP across the six rabi crops.
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In a separate development, Chouhan approved the procurement worth Rs 5,547.99 crore at MSP under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for the Kharif season 2026-27 in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.
Uttar Pradesh got the largest share (Rs 3,992 crore) of this approved procurement at MSP for 4,66,000 metric tonnes of pigeon pea (tur) and 6,250 metric tonnes of (green gram) moong. Karnataka received Rs 1,107 crore, and Telangana, Rs 448 crore.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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