We need to reimagine the MSP for farm sector revival

Indian agriculture calls for a holistic approach. Agriculture must show sustained growth in sustainable ways

- G CHANDRASHEKHAR

Food and nutrition security is critical for the country. Agriculture is the country's largest private sector enterprise. We have an estimated 120 million farming families and each farmer is an entrepreneur in his own right. Although he is a risk taker, the farmer has historically been challenged and vulnerable to huge uncertainties.

To be sure, agriculture accounts for 15-18% of our national GDP but provides livelihood for over 50% of the workforce. Herein lies its importance. Even as the country's agriculture continues to countenance the triple challenge of land constraint, water shortage and climate change, fixing and enforcing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for specified agricultural crops has been a contentious issue in recent years.

There is widespread belief that the MSP regime as practiced at present has become ineffective and that it deserves a review to ensure it remains in sync with global and domestic realities.

To a recent question in Parliament about steps being taken to address farmers' demands for a legal guarantee of MSP, the Minister of State for Agriculture replied saying, "a committee has been constituted on July 12, 2022 to make suggestions so as to make MSP more effective and transparent". It is unclear how many times the committee met, what it discussed and what was the conclusion.