The Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) has criticised the hike in minimum support price (MSP) announced by the Union Government for paddy, saying that it fails to factor in the sharp raise in cost of cultivation.
In a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, on Thursday, Mr P Chengal Reddy, Secretary General of CIFA, said that the cumulative increase in cost of cultivation of paddy was in the range of Rs 7,500-8,000 an acre. The MSP increase would result in an increase of Rs 1,600-2,000. This would do no help to the farmers.
There was a sharp increase in labour costs after the implementation of the job guarantee scheme. Input costs too went up significantly. There was no way farmers could recover their investments, he said.
He reminded that thousands of paddy farmers in Andhra Pradesh had declared crop holiday this kharif season as a mark of protest.
“Except in Punjab and Haryana, the Food Corporation of India is not procuring rice directly from farmers,” he said.