Input costs much higher: Left parties slam Centre over low MSP hike

CHENNAI: Left parties on Friday hit out at the Narendra Modi government for hiking the minimum support price for 14 Kharif crops, including paddy, by one to five per cent even as the input costs have increased by 15 to 20 per cent.

In a statement, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan said that the procurement prices of the crops have been increased by three to five per cent by the Union government. “The procurement prices of paddy and wheat have not been hiked to the expected level even as there was high demand in the domestic and international market. The present price hike is unacceptable. When the input costs and other expenditures have increased by 15 to 20 per cent in the last year, a mere three to five per cent increase in the procurement price is an act of cheating farmers, ” he said.

CPM central committee member and TN Farmers Association general secretary P Shanmugam said that the Union government has hiked procurement prices for crops, including Rs 1 per kg of paddy. “If the government decides to fix such low prices for food grains, there will be a huge threat and shortage of food security and starvation deaths will be inevitable. Based on Dr Swaminathan Committee’s recommendation, the farmers would get encouraged only if the government fixes the procurement prices of crops at 50 per cent more than production expenditure. The present announcement will destroy agriculture, ” he said.

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