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JUST WHEN THE minimum support price (MSP) for foodgrains will cease to be an instrument of political patronage is hard to tell. The latest is the controversy over the MSP for rice for the 2002-03 season. Despite the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) that no hike in the MSP is warranted for the ensuing harvest, the Agriculture Minister has sent the file back to the Commission for reconsideration. The Minister believes a raise is justified this season because farmers in many States have had to irrigate the crop several times to save the crop in the truant South-West monsoon.

While no one disputes the additional cost farmers have incurred, that alone would hardly justify a further hike in the support price, already raised to unreasonably high levels over the last few years. It is common knowledge that the CACP recommendation is not binding on the government, andthere are many instances of the government disregarding the commission's price recommendations in the past. It appears the Agriculture Minister wants to take all the credit for granting a higher MSP to rice growers, but not the responsibility. He, therefore, wants the CACP to recommend a hike which will give "his decision" some kind of legitimacy. No doubt, the Minister is well aware that the Commission is not working to its full membership strength and that it should be quite easy for him to obtain what he wants. This is nothing but a travesty of ministerial responsibility and the governmental decision-making process. Whatever the final decision on the MSP for rice, the Government must start working on MSP rationalisation and crop diversification. Even the usually reticent Reserve Bank of India has, in its latest annual report, drawn the attention of policy-makers to how price interventions in the form of MSP and procurement have promoted crops such as wheat and rice, while others have suffered neglect because of controls and restrictions. These controls have not only biased the cropping pattern, but also contributed to degradation of soil and environment in certain States. The MSP announced for rice and wheat has always been higher than market price and the cost of cultivation.

The anomaly in the MSP regime must be corrected. Also, the procurement of fine cereals must be diversified so as to support farmers of all the major States growing them. Rice is grown virtually across the country, but procurement takes place in only a handful of States. The political clout of the States seems to dictate the Centre's rice procurement rather than the rational policy of dispersal of purchases. Acreage shift or crop diversification is not the responsibility of State governments alone. Indeed, far from encouraging it, the Centre seems to be pre-empting crop diversification, especially in Punjab, Haryana and UP. It may be necessary to evolve a stable and transparent MSP policy for, say, five years, considering the needs of the country and the relative merits of foodgrains and commercial crops. Else, farm growth will continue to remain highly regionalised and equity in income distribution associated with agriculture will never be realised.

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