All paddy varieties must be under MSP mechanism:Birender Singh

Union Minister Birender Singh today said all paddy varities should be brought under the Minimum Support Price mechanism to support farmers as there is a question mark over the profitability of agriculture.
"I and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal talked to Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and have even written letter to the Prime Minister about problems faced by Basmati growers, who are not getting remunerative price for their produce.
I believe that all paddy varieties should come under MSP and like we have Cotton Corporation of India for cotton growers, a similar body should be set up to help Basmati farmers," the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj said addressing a meet-the-press programme here.

Continuing further, he said, "today, there is a question mark on profitability of agriculture".
When asked why country's agriculture was facing crisis, giving a detailed reply, he said, out of 336 million hectares of land in the country, just 46 per cent is under agriculture.
He said efforts should be made to bring 12.5 million of land, which is called waste land, under cultivation. "Then for next 25-30 years, there would be no crisis of food," he said.

Further commenting on the farmers' plight, he said, "I often say that in this world there are many occupations including political danda (occupation) in which income gets multiplied, exception being of farming occupation.

Take for instance counterpart of a farmer who is in politics, or a bureaucrat, or in business, after 4-5 years comparatively all these people are way way ahead while the farmer makes little progress."
Birender Singh said that there are 70-75 per cent of farmers who produce only for their own consumption, they don't need MSP.
"So, it (agrarian crisis) requires lot of thinking, lot of re-visiting," he said.
"When country attained freedom, 51 per cent share of GDP came from agriculture, today it has come down to 14 per cent. Then 85 per cent agriculture were dependent on agriculture, now it is 68 per cent.

Now, you can imagine yourself that farming today has become non-profitable," he pointed out.
Birender Singh suggested that to make agriculture profitable, various steps can be taken like giving boost to organic farming, incentives for setting up green houses and other incentives to small farmers.
On Narendra Modi government's Land bill, which had proposed amendments to Land Acquisition Act of 2013, Singh said "when Land Acquisition Bill was being discussed in Parliament, opposition said that there are 20 crore youths in this country who need work other than the one related to agriculture, on the other hand they were accusing us for bringing the legislation.