Farmers' protest: Govt may add rice, wheat in PM-ASHAA to end logjam

Also exploring option of a minimum reserve price for traders based on production cost

The Centre is looking at various options, such as inclusion of paddy and wheat in the Pradhan Mantri Annadaata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-ASHAA), to break the deadlock with protesting farmers.

Inclusion in PM-ASHAA will make paddy and wheat eligible for deficiency price payment, which, as of now, is applicable to pulses and oilseeds. It is also exploring the option of a minimum reserve price for private traders based on the cost of production of farm produce.

Officials said the government is toying with various options to break the impasse as farmers seemed adamant on a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) along with repeal of the three farm laws as the main conditions to end their month-long sit-in at Delhi’s borders.

In case of repeal of the laws, officials said already, a lot of objections raised by farmers have been included in the dilutions suggested by the government. These include allowing states to levy market fees on private mandis and empowering them to frame rules for registration of private traders, which should address the concern.

PM-ASHAA provides a mechanism through which the Centre can either directly procure specified farm produce or pay the difference if prices fall below the MSP. Broadly, the PM-AASHA has three components — the Price Support Scheme (PSS), the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) — modelled on the lines of erstwhile Bhawantar Bhugtan Yojana of Madhya Pradesh — and Private Procur­ement and Stockiest Scheme that was launched on a pilot basis. Under the scheme, the Centre’s total procurement is capped at 25 per cent of the total production of a crop in a state. This can be expanded up to 40 per cent if the commodity is used for the public distribution system or any other state welfare scheme.

However, previous attempts at deficiency price payment in case of Madhya Pradesh’s Bhawantar Bhugtan Scheme did not meet with much success as there were allegations that traders formed cartels to artificially keep the prices down.

Meanwhile, in case of a minimum reserve price, officials said an option could be to explore something like a floor rate for private traders to buy farm produce based on the production cost as estimated by the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP). However, this could be applicable only for the 23 crops for which CACP determines the production cost.

The Committee for Doubling Farmers’ Income has also talked about such a reserve price. It said there was a need for setting a minimum reserve price, distinct from the MSP to protect the interests of farmers without distorting the market forces. Whenever market prices fall before the notified MSP, there is no minimum reserve price for private trade to buy the farm produce. 

The farmers have hardened their stand ahead of the seventh round of talks with the Centre on Monday.  Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday and discussed with Singh “all possible options” to find a “middle path” to resolve the crisis, sources added.