Centre announces hike in MSP for 2022-23 Rabi crop; mustard and lentil big gainers

New Delhi, Sept 8: The Centre on Wednesday gave its nod to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rabi crops for the 2022-23 marketing season, with the oilseed farmers getting the maximum benefits.

The move is being viewed as a concerted effort by the Narendra Modi dispensation to give a boost to the edible oil sector, enhance cultivated areas and reduce India’s dependence on edible oil imports.

The MSP for Mustard and Rapseed has been increased by Rs 400 per quintal from Rs 4650/quintal to Rs 5050/quintal. The return on investment will be Rs 100 per quintal. Similarly, MSP for Sunflower has been increased by Rs 114 per quintal from Rs 5327 in 2021-22 to Rs 5441 in 2022-23. This will help Sunflower growing farmers get a return of Rs 50 per quintal.

The approval was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the PM.

The MSP for wheat has been raised by Rs 40 per quintal from Rs 1975 in 2021-22 to Rs 2015. As per a government statement, the net return on investment for farmers will be Rs 100, with the cost of production for 2022-23 being pegged at Rs 1008 per quintal.

The MSP for Barley has been increased by Rs 35 and Rs 400 for Lentil (Masur) production.

“The increase in MSP for Rabi Crops for RMS 2022-23 is in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production, aiming a reasonably fair remuneration for the fanners,” the government statement said.

It said the decisions taken by the Cabinet are in sync with the government’s stated objectives of realigning the MSPs in favour of oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals to encourage farmers to shift to the larger area under these and correct demand-supply mismatch.

The Centre had last month announced the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) with an outlay of Rs 11,040 crore to make India self-reliant in oilseed production.