Panel urged to revamp farm policies

HYDERABAD: All the opposition parties on Wednesday urged the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture to prevail upon the Centre for implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations on fixation of minimum support price. They wanted a total revamp of policies on input subsidy and import and export of agricultural produce to make farming a remunerative enterprise.The members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture led by its chairman Basudeb Acharia called on TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu at the latter’s residence here. Chandrababu Naidu, CPI leader K Ramakrishna, CPM leader Malla Reddy and LSP leader P Bhaskara Rao told Acharia that the policies of the central and state governments have turned the future bleak for farmers. The Centre which extends lakhs of crores of rupees worth of tax concessions to the corporate sector has, on the other hand, consistently been reducing funds to agriculture sector which provides employment to 60 per cent of the people.“The existing mechanism of providing solace in times of natural calamities is archaic and time consuming. The input subsidy now provided in case of crop loss is meagre. The recommendations of the Working Group of Chief Ministers to enhance the input subsidy to Rs 10,000 per acre are still not implemented,” they said.The voluntary declaration of crop holiday for this season by a large number of farmers in East Godavari, West Godavari and other districts is a pointer to the gloomy future of the farming, they said.While the AP government estimated the cost of cultivation as `1,355 per quintal of paddy and recommended a minimum support price of `2,033 for 2010-11, the Commission of Agricultural Prices and Costs (CAPC) recommended `1,160 per quintal. But the MSP fixed for 2011-12 was `1,080, they lamented.