October 22, 2010

India's farmers threaten to cut wheat acreage on low support price

Indian farmers in the states of Punjab and Haryana have threatened on Wednesday (Oct 20) to reduce the wheat cultivation area in the upcoming sowing season, protesting the "miniscule" hike in minimum support price (MSP) of the crop.

Dubbing the latest wheat MSP increase as inadequate, farm experts sought a minimum hike of INR50 (US$1.13) per quintal instead of INR20 (US$0.45) a quintal in the wake of high inflation and increase in farmers' input cost.

With a combined output of over 260 lakh tonnes Punjab and Haryana are the biggest wheat contributors to the central pool.

"We completely reject the hike of just INR20 (US$0.45) per quintal on wheat MSPit is a cruel blow on farmers who leave no stone unturned in feeding the country," Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal group) President Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said.

"We will be asking the farmers this time that they should reduce the area under wheat as it is difficult to sow crop because of high input cost and low realisation," BKU (Rajewal group) President Balbir Singh Rajewal said.

A group of farmers led by Rajewal will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee next week to bring to their notice their protest against the low increase in MSP.

The government on Wednesday (Oct 20) raised wheat MSP by INR20 (US$0.45) a quintal to INR1,120 (US$25.14) a quintal for rabi season 2010-11.