Nitin Gadkari said the decision to increase the minimum support price.
Nagpur:
Foreign Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday that the decision to increase the minimum support price (MSP) had been made by the Cabinet and that he had been “wrongly attributed” to clear comments on the decline in the MSP.
“The Cabinet of the Union under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to increase the MSP. I have made no statement on the decrease in the MSP. It has been falsely attributed to me and I feel bad about it. Farmers should avoid bad news. The Central government has always protected farmers and will continue to do so, “Gadkari told ANI.
This comes in the context of media reports citing that minimum government support prices for agricultural crops are much higher than domestic market prices and international rates, which can create an “economic crisis” in the country. .
“Earlier in an interview, I said that there was a surplus of sugar, wheat and rice in our country and that there was a lack of oil seeds. We import edible oil from worth Rs 90,000 crore. So there is a need to change the harvest model, “he said.
Gadkari said that certain measures have been taken to increase the production of ethanol in the country.
“In order to benefit the farmers, it was decided to produce ethanol with a surplus of rice and wheat. In Haryana and in Punjab, we have to plant corn in large numbers which will contribute to the production of ethanol and there will be an increase in revenue, “he said.
The Minister of the Union declared that the MSP decided by the government was to protect the country’s farmers.
“To decrease our imports, we must use rice and sugar for ethanol production. On the world market, 1 kg of sugar is worth between 22 and 23 rupees. In our country, we protect our farmers by providing 1 kg of sugar is worth Rs 34. The same goes for rice and wheat. The prices are lower on the international market but we have increased the MSP, “he added.
Earlier this month, the Cabinet of the Union approved an increase in the MSP for kharif crops.
Informing the media about the cabinet’s decisions, the Union’s Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar, said that the MSP had been increased for all kharif crops commissioned for the 2020-21 marketing year.
Cabinet also approved the extension of the repayment date for short-term loans for agriculture and related banking activities that are due / will be due between March 1 and August 31, 2020.
