Odisha Cabinet resolves to move Centre on MSP
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Cabinet on Wednesday resolved to move the Centre reiterating its earlier stand requesting to implement the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan committee regarding MSP for all crops for doubling the farmers’ income.
The decision of the State Cabinet came at a time the farmers are agitating demanding the repeal of the new farm laws enacted by the Centre.
Notably, the M S Swaminathan-chaired National Commission on Farmers had recommended that Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be at least 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production. The State Government considers MSP as an important tool for income generation of farmers.
The income of farmers needs to keep pace with growth of income in other sectors and the rise in the costs of cultivation, said a Cabinet statement. The MSP on any agriculture produce has to be fixed in a holistic manner so as to make farming operations profitable and to safeguard the farmers against all types of risks, it said.
Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy said that the State Government policies and programmes, including the new Agricultural Policy 2020 ‘SAMRUDHI’, are aimed at achieving rapid agricultural growth through improved profitability, inclusivity and sustainability.
State Parliamentary Affairs Minister BK Arukha said the State Government considers that the Minimum Support Price is an important tool for income generation of the farmers.
On the State Government’s Agriculture Policy-2020 ‘SAMRUDHI’, the Chief Secretary said efforts are being made to enhance the status of agriculture from the present level of subsistence agriculture to profitable, commercial venture, so that young person’s can accept agriculture as a means of self-employment.
The policy also aims to generate adequate employment opportunities and take the knowledge of modern farming system available at the doorstep of farmers and to reorient agriculture towards export, he said.
The Government also intends to facilitate increased long-term investment in the agricultural sector for farm as well as off farm, both by private sector, public sector and private public partnership (PPP), particularly for post-harvest management, marketing, agro processing and value addition, he said.
Tripathy said the Cabinet took altogether 12 decisions of which two each were related to the departments of Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment, Water Resources department, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water.
Others pertained to the Energy department, Skill Development and Technical Education, Finance department, Home department, Works department and one to Parliamentary Affairs department.
It also approved two rural piped water supply projects worth Rs 724 crore for Bargarh under BASUDHA scheme. The projects will be completed in two years and benefit 515 villages of Barpali, Bheden, Attabira, Bijepur, Gaiselet and Bargarh blocks.
