MSP at 1.5 times input cost for kharif to be announced next week: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that a Minimum Support Price (MSP) at 1.5 times the input cost for notified crops for this kharif season would be announced next week.

He also said that Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane for 2018-19, starting October, would be announced within the next two weeks, and will be "higher" than the previous year, an official statement said.

As per the statement, Modi told a group of 140 farmers, who had come to meet him from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka, that the Union Cabinet would "approve the implementation of MSP of 150 per cent in its forthcoming meeting", which would ensure "a significant boost" to their income.

The government will provide incentive to those farmers if juice recovery from their sugarcane will be higher than 9.5 per cent, he added.

"The Prime Minister apprised the farmers about the various decisions taken to liquidate the arrears of sugarcane farmers. In the last seven to 10 days itself, more than Rs 4,000 crore of arrears have been given to the farmers as a result of new policy measures enforced," the statement said.

During the interaction at his official residence at Lok Kalyan Marg, the Prime Minister further assured the farmers that state governments were requested to take effective measures for liquidation of cane arrears.

He also exhorted farmers to use sprinkler and drip irrigation, latest farming techniques, and solar pumps besides installing solar panels in their farms for power and additional income.

About value addition of crops, Modi urged the farmers to use farm waste judiciously, as a source of nutrients, and for additional income besides aiming at reduction in chemical fertilizers by up to 10 per cent by 2022.

"The Prime Minister apprised farmers of his recent interactions with corporates, where he has called for greater private sector investment for value addition, warehousing, storage facilities, better quality seeds, and market linkages for improving farmers income," said the statement.

As per the statement, the farmers thanked Modi and appreciated the various steps taken by the Centre including import duty on sugar from 50 per cent to 100 per cent, and provision of Rs 5.50 per quintal as performance based grant to sugar mills for payments to farmers.

"Farmers also took note of Union Government's intervention to the tune of Rs 1,175 crore as interest subvention support for 30 lakh tonnes of buffer stock by mills, to enable payment to farmers," it said.

--IANS

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