Chandigarh: The Haryana government’s recent decision giving guarantee to procure all 24 notified crops at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the Centre has ignited a debate among economics experts and farmers.
While the Nayab Singh Saini government is being praised for its proactive stance, doubts loom over its ability to implement this policy without the Centre’s support.
Haryana has long been a pioneer in farmer welfare, introducing schemes like ‘Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana’, direct MSP payments to farmers, timely sugarcane payments, and MSP procurement for 14 crops, including staples like paddy, wheat, and mustard. However, the new notification expanding MSP coverage to 24 crops, such as ragi, soyabean, sunflower, and maize, raises questions about its practicality.
Since the MSP rates are set by the Union government, based on recommendations from the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which evaluates factors like production costs, market demand, and price trends. Final approval comes from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister.
However, the procurement targets are fixed by the Union government for Haryana and Punjab as they are the biggest beneficiaries of the MSP scheme. Since the procurement by union government were largely restricted to wheat and paddy, ensuring 100 percent procurement of all crops still remains a challenge. Dr Devinder Sharma Food Policy and Agriculture Expert says, “12 out of the 24 crops, which the Haryana government has promised to procure on MSP, are not grown in the state. They should come out with the figures of procurement and production of other crops like mustard, maize, bajra and sunflower in the state.”
Sharma said that the Punjab government can also make a similar claim that they can procure all 260 crops grown in the country on the MSP.
Dr. Virendra Singh Lather, former principal scientist at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), explains that the Centre plays a pivotal role in MSP implementation, purchasing 30-40% of national produce for public distribution. Haryana’s wheat, paddy, bajra, and oilseeds, worth over Rs 50,000 crore annually, are procured by the Centre, making state-level procurement without federal support both impractical and legally contentious.
Haryana’s annual budget of Rs 1,55,832 crore has further fuelled skepticism. Experts argue that procuring crops worth Rs 50,000 crore on MSP would strain state finances and disrupt the federal structure, as MSP procurement is constitutionally under the Centre’s jurisdiction. “This notification seems more like political agenda amid the ongoing agitation for similar demand of Guarnteed MSP in Punjab than a practical solution,” said Dr. Lather.
“States must obtain prior approval from the Centre for major crop purchases, and bypassing this process misleads farmers and violates constitutional norms”, he added. However, farmers in other states were hailing the move and raising the issue why other states cannot take such initiatives. Without concrete financial backing and Centre’s involvement, the notification would remain an unfulfilled promise.
Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is leading protest at Khanauri border said that how a state government can make such claims and even issue a notification to procure all crops on MSP as the procurements in the country are done by the union government.
He said, “Can a state government implement an MSP guarantee act based solely on its own financial resources? The procurement of paddy and wheat in Haryana and Punjab is always carried out under the directions of the central government, with funds provided by the Centre for this purpose.”
The farmer leaders in a statement also asked whether a state government can raise enough financial resources to ensure purchase at MSP on its own.
Haryana’s initiative highlights the need for a robust ‘MSP Guarantee Act’, it also underscores the complexities of ensuring fair prices for farmers in a system heavily reliant on federal cooperation.
The move, though ambitious, serves as a reminder of the challenges states face in addressing farmers’ needs within constitutional and financial constraints.
Farmer leaders also raised questions over the announcement as they said that the state farmers had to face challenges to sell their produce like mustard, sunflower, maize and bajra on MSP. Even, the sunflower growers in northern districts of Ambala and Kurukshetra held protests every year forcing the government to procure the sunflower seed on MSP.