Minor MSP hike for Wheat and Pulses

Govt, on the recommendations of CACP proposed a raise in the MSP of Rs 20 per quintal to wheat at Rs 1,120 and pulses, including safflower and lentils (masur), by up to Rs 380 per quintal. MSP is the price that government pays to farmers while procuring their produce. The centre procures wheat and rice directly from farmers for the public distribution system. CCEA appro­ved MSPs of fair average quality (FAQ) of rabi crops of 2010-11 to be marketed in 2011-12 season. MSP for barley has been increased by Rs 30 to Rs 780, and gram by Rs 340 to Rs 2,100. Procurement price for masur has been raised by Rs 380 to Rs 2,250. Prices of mustard seed and safflower have been increased by Rs 20 and Rs 120 respectively.

India, the world's largest producer of pulses, imports nearly 4 million tonnes to meet its domestic demand of 18-19 million tonnes. Area under pulses cultivation has been declining over the last few years and the demand-supply gap has kept prices at an elevated level. The agriculture ministry is aiming to increase pulses production to 16.5 million tonnes in 2010-11 from about 14.59 million tonnes the previous year. Higher support prices for kharif pulses had resulted in a sharp jump in acreage, and production is estimated to rise to 6 million tonnes in the kharif season of 2010-11as against 4.3 million tonnes a year ago. According to officials, in case of cereals Food Corporation of India and other designated state agencies would continue to provide price support to farmers as in the past. Co-operative major Nafed will continue to be the nodal agency for procurement of oilseeds and pulses.

With this increase in the support prices, particularly for the wheat, the so called foodgrain of the country, aka Punjab is not at all happy and cries foul over the low hike for the fiscal. The Punjab CM has termed it as, cruel joke with the farming community and expressed farmers have expected better hike this season, owing to the sharp increase in the prices of farm inputs, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers ets. The farm experts of the state feels cheated by the Govt action, as over the time, the state has gone handicapped and now solely depends upon the centre’s procurement and pricing policy, followed for rice and wheat, as the most of the harvest is taken away by the state farm corporations. Everytime, the support prices, gets revised either they lobby for more hike every year or, go to the extent of threatening over the short supply of grains. But the real problem, still remained unanswered before the Indian agriculture, till when we’ll keep on waiving such obnoxious deal, which has almost turn sore for the national food security.

UN report says pressure on land affects millions of farmer

A new report by the UN independent expert on Right to Food, has said that about 30 million hectares of farmland is yearly lost to environmental degradation, conversion to industrial use or urbanization. It said that the trend has affected hundreds of millions of farmers, fishermen and indigenous people, globally. Today, Up to 30 million hectares (75 million acres) of land, an area of the size of Italy, is lost each year to environmental degradation, industrialization and urbanization, Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said 500 million small farmers suffer from hunger partly because "their right to land is under attack." As rural populations grow and competition with large industrial units increases, the plots cultivated by smallholders are shrinking year after year. Farmers are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation, the envoy told the UN General Assembly. He gave the example of India where the average landholding fell from 2.6 hectares in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in 2000 and is still shrinking. In eastern and southern Africa, the amount of cultivated land per capita declined by half over the past generation. An area of cultivated land the size of Italy is lost each year to environmental degradation, industrialization and urbanization, the UN expert said. Between five and 10 million hectares of farm land are lost each year because of severe degradation and another 19.5 million hectares to industrial use and urbanization. The report disclosed that the combination of environmental degradation, urbanization and large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors form 'an explosive cocktail', while the pressure on land suitable for agriculture was increasing at an unprecedented rate. ''Each year, investors express an interest in the acquisition of over 40 million hectares of farmland, often for the production of agrofuels, a major driver behind the recent wave of large-scale acquisitions of land,' the report noted. It also said that, 'measures adopted for climate change mitigation or environmental conservation have also increased the pressure on agricultural land'. It added that, 'the planting of forests in order to benefit from the 'clean development mechanism' has sometimes led to evictions, against which the local populations concerned are insufficiently protected'. According to De Schutter: 'All these developments have a huge impact on smallholders, indigenous peoples, herders and fisherfolk who depend on access to land and water for their livelihoods. 'States should therefore confer legal security of tenure upon those persons, households and communities. 'However, evidence shows that individual land titling and the creation of a market for land rights may not be the most appropriate means to achieve this protection,' he noted. He also said: 'The titling process may confirm the unequal distribution of land, resulting in practice in a counter-agrarian reform. 'Furthermore, land sales tend to favour not those who can make the most efficient use of land, but those who have access to capital and whose ability to purchase land is greatest,'' the UN expert said. 'Rather than focusing on strengthening the rights of landowners, States should encourage communal ownership systems, strengthen customary land tenure systems and reinforce tenancy laws to improve the protection of land-users,' De Schutter added