Amid farmer's opposition and disagreement against Government’s new farm legislation, the agriculture department of Jharkhand is working on a plan to fix minimum support price (MSP) for vegetables, similar to paddy, agriculture minister Badal Patralekh said on Sunday. Moreover, this move is aimed to provide a fair marketplace for farmers.
The agriculture minister of state said that the department had formed a committee under the aegis of agriculture secretary Abu Bakr Siddique to work out detailed modalities of an MSP for vegetables to ensure that those who grew vegetables did not have to sell their produce at throwaway prices.
He was trying to finalise a plan within the next three months, said Badal.
“We wanted to introduce MSP for vegetables from this year but the plan got delayed due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown because of which neither I or my officials could visit some of the progressive states to find out how it was done there.”
These Vegetables will Get MSP
While asking about specific vegetables that would be covered under the MSP plan, he said that it would be decided by the committee.
Moreover, he said that they will try to fix for as many varieties of vegetables as possible including peas, tomatoes, gourd, French beans, cauliflower, cabbage in sufficient quantities.
If we look at the state production, Jharkhand is a vegetable surplus state which produces over 30 lakh metric tonnes annually, says department’s data.
The agriculture department, through the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) for the first time in August tied up with a private agency - All Seasons Farm Fresh, to export over a tonne of vegetables for Dubai after procuring directly from the farmers. According to report, this consignments included 300kg bitter gourd, 50kg ladies finger, 150kg bottle gourd, 50kg French beans, 100 kg coccinia grandis (kundru), among others.
