Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy by Rs 50 to Rs 1,410 per quintal for this year.
The Agriculture Ministry had earlier moved a CCEA note on MSP of various crops for the 2015-16 kharif season taking into account the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), a government advisory body.
MSP is the rate at which government buys the grain from farmers.
Paddy is the main crop grown in the kharif (summer) season. Sowing of kharif crops has already started with the onset of the South-West monsoon from June.
According to government data, area sown under the rice crop was higher at 4.71 lakh hectares till the last week of this season as against 4.52 lakh hectares in the same period last year.
The sowing area under cotton, sugarcane and jute remained lower in the said period.
Rice production is pegged at 102.54 million tonnes in the ongoing 2014-15 crop year (July-June) as against the record 106.65 million tonnes in the previous year.
An increased MSP may encourage farmer for greater sowing of paddy.
With PTI Inputs
