Higher MSPs won't help: Budget 2018 has other steps to allay rural distress

MSPs for many crops are already higher than 1.5 times the paid-out costs and the estimated value of family labour

The debate on the agricultural package in the 2018-19 Budget is bogged down with the issue of minimum support prices (MSP) of crops, disregarding some other proposals that can potentially have a more enduring impact on farmers’ incomes. This discourse has also obscured the fact that the Budget does not offer any upfront succour to farmers as immediate relief from economic distress. The move to fix the MSPs at 50 per cent above the production cost, as announced in the Budget, can provide only cold comfort to farmers, and for good reason. For one, over 70 per cent of them