According to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) report titled Food Outlook, in the past two years, the global production of wheat has declined from 630 million tonnes to
600 million tonnes. If we look at India, in the past three years, on an average, the wheat production has remained static at 71 million tonnes, while the need is to produce 75 million tonnes for the 1.2 billion strong population in the country. Although low productivity is one of the major causes of farmers’ woes, the government’s apathy towards the farmer’s needs to meet the ever increasing productivity costs, is the biggest culprit. Consider this: In the last five years, the cost of fertilizers, seeds and electricity has gone up by 15%. For the last five years in a row, the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat has remained almost stagnant. Despite the prevailing drought, the MSP for wheat for the year 2005-06 had been fixed at Rs.650 per quintal as against the 2001- MSP of Rs.610 (an annualised increase of just around 1%, not even enough to cover inflation).
The rice MSP saga is no different from the story of wheat procurement. Despite all odds, farmers in the country did manage to produce 73 million tonnes of wheat. And what did our rather visionary government do – they picked up only 7.1 million tonnes of the produce, claiming farmers were demanding more than required. Good for farmers, as private firms are offering them money in the range of Rs.900-1,400 per quintal of wheat, whereas the governmentis adamantly holding on to Rs.850 per quintal.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here
Source: IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative
600 million tonnes. If we look at India, in the past three years, on an average, the wheat production has remained static at 71 million tonnes, while the need is to produce 75 million tonnes for the 1.2 billion strong population in the country. Although low productivity is one of the major causes of farmers’ woes, the government’s apathy towards the farmer’s needs to meet the ever increasing productivity costs, is the biggest culprit. Consider this: In the last five years, the cost of fertilizers, seeds and electricity has gone up by 15%. For the last five years in a row, the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat has remained almost stagnant. Despite the prevailing drought, the MSP for wheat for the year 2005-06 had been fixed at Rs.650 per quintal as against the 2001- MSP of Rs.610 (an annualised increase of just around 1%, not even enough to cover inflation).The rice MSP saga is no different from the story of wheat procurement. Despite all odds, farmers in the country did manage to produce 73 million tonnes of wheat. And what did our rather visionary government do – they picked up only 7.1 million tonnes of the produce, claiming farmers were demanding more than required. Good for farmers, as private firms are offering them money in the range of Rs.900-1,400 per quintal of wheat, whereas the governmentis adamantly holding on to Rs.850 per quintal.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here
Source: IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative
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