Govt should not increase wheat MSP for the 2013-14 marketing season, suggests CACP

NEW DELHI: The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which advises the Government on pricing policy for major farm produce, has suggested the government to keep the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat unchanged at Rs 1,285/quintal for the 2013-14 marketing season.
 

The suggestion is in the wake of the higher wheat stocks and also to promote production of non-grain crops.

For the 2012-13 marketing season (April-March), the Centre had fixed the wheat MSP at Rs 1,285 per quintal and this had helped achieve a record 93.90 million tonnes of wheat output.

Country had huge stocks of more than 46 million tonnes of wheat and any increase would add to the food subsidy burden, CACP reasoned for its recommendation. In addition, the commission also argued that there was a requirement to shift to non-grain crops and also improve its supply to keep inflation under control.

In September last year, the centre had lifted a four-year-old ban on wheat exports and about 1.5 million tonnes of the grain has been shipped so far.

The sowing of wheat starts from October, but usually the Government declares the MSP before sowing operations in order to enable farmers to take an informed decision.