A panel of three Union ministers on Sunday proposed the buying of pulses, maize, and cotton crops by government agencies at minimum support prices (MSP) for five years after entering into an agreement with farmers.
Speaking to the media after a more than four-hour-long meeting with farmer leaders here, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the innovative and out-of-the-box idea came up during the discussions. The minister said the farmer leaders will decide on the proposals put forward by the government by Monday morning.
Cooperative societies like the NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) will enter into a contract with those farmers who grow tur dal, urad dal, masoor dal or maize for buying their crop at MSP for next five years, said Goyal.
There will be no limit on the quantity (purchased) and a portal will be developed for this, he added. It will save Punjab’s farming, improve the groundwater table, and save the land from getting barren which is already under stress, Goyal, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, said.
He also proposed that the Cotton Corporation of India buy cotton from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP) for five years after entering into a legal agreement with them. We also want the cotton crop to be revived in Punjab. Whosoever farmer revives cotton or sows it, the CCI will enter into a legal agreement and whatever crop comes from the field through diversification will be bought for five years at MSP, said Goyal.
A group of Union ministers convened the fourth round of discussions with farmer leaders on Sunday, addressing their various demands, notably the call for a legal assurance of MSP. This meeting took place amidst the ongoing protest where thousands of farmers have been stationed at the Punjab-Haryana border. Goyal, accompanied by Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, arrived at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Sector 26 for the negotiations.