Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hailed the decision of the Central government to hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Kharif crops and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing smiles on the faces of the farmers.
"This decision will bring happiness in the families of farmers. This is a major decision taken by the Modi government. This will improve the quality of life of farmers in UP too," he said in a statement issued here on Wednesday.
Terming the decision as a historic one Yogi Adityanath said the hike in MSP will play an important role in changing the life of peasants and also fulfill the promise made by BJP to double their income by 2022.
He said the UP government had also taken several steps to provide assistance in the agriculture sector. He also thanked the Centre for taking decision to bail out the ailing sugar industry by giving them package.
As per the decision MSP of paddy has been raised by Rs 200 per quintal, jowar (hybrid) by Rs 730 per quintal and ragi by Rs 997 per quintal. The highest percentage increase in MSP over the previous year is for ragi is 52.47 per cent followed by jowar hybrid 42.94 per cent. Similarly, the MSP of Bajra has been raised by Rs.525 per quintal yielding a return of 96.97 per cent over cost.
For pulses, apart from Moong, MSP of arhar has been raised by Rs 225 per quintal yielding a return over cost by 65.36 per cent and urad by Rs 200 per quintal with a return over cost by 62.89 per cent in order to maintain inter-crop-price parity.
Yogi said that promoting cultivation of pulses can help India overcome nutrition insecurity, improve soil fertility by nitrogen fixation and provide income support to farmers.
“Thus, increased MSPs for pulses will give a price signal to farmers to increase acreage. Further enhanced MSPs would boost production of oilseeds and encourage investment in its productivity and help reduce India's import bill. Increase in MSPs of nutri-cereals will improve nutritional security and allow farmers to get higher prices,” he said.