Agri experts for MSP based on realistic cost, subsidised diesel

Farmer organisations and agri experts on Wednesday pressed for MSP based on realistic cost of production, higher subsidies on diesel and allowing new technologies like genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their pre-Budget submission to the finance ministry.

Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Karad held the first pre-Budget consultations with representatives of agriculture and agro processing industry through virtual mode.

In order to achieve the target of doubling farmers’ income, Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) Chief Adviser P Chengal Reddy said the government should increase priority sector lending to agriculture by 25 per cent. He suggested that the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, which is the Government’s advisory body on price policy for crops,