NEW DELHI: While silent on legal guarantee to procurement of crops at minimum support price (MSP), BJP‘s manifesto on Sunday talked of the party’s promise of continuing to increase MSP from “time to time”.
The party promised to “further incentivise” crop diversification to make agriculture “sustainable and remunerative” – a pitch it had made to protesting farmers earlier this year by offering guaranteed procurement of pulses and cotton from those who switched from water guzzling paddy – in contrast to legal guarantee to MSP promised by Congress in its manifesto.BJP ministers have argued that guaranteed procurement under a revised MSP formula is unsustainable as it will divert resources from social and infrastructure projects. Govt’s proposal for crop diversification had been rejected by farmer unions.
The highlight of the BJP’s manifesto on the farm sector is the promise to launch an indigenous ‘Bharat Krishi’ (India Agriculture) satellite – an exclusive satellite to assist farmers in activities like crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil health and weather forecasting among others. Utilising satellite imagery for rendering integrated service for the fishermen’s community, ensuring both their safety and security, will also be a key component.
Besides, the promise on the farm sector also focussed on use of technology in farming operations with BJP announcing to develop Digital Public Infrastructure to remove information asymmetry in agriculture and provide farmer-centric solutions and services.
The party promised to “further incentivise” crop diversification to make agriculture “sustainable and remunerative” – a pitch it had made to protesting farmers earlier this year by offering guaranteed procurement of pulses and cotton from those who switched from water guzzling paddy – in contrast to legal guarantee to MSP promised by Congress in its manifesto.BJP ministers have argued that guaranteed procurement under a revised MSP formula is unsustainable as it will divert resources from social and infrastructure projects. Govt’s proposal for crop diversification had been rejected by farmer unions.
The highlight of the BJP’s manifesto on the farm sector is the promise to launch an indigenous ‘Bharat Krishi’ (India Agriculture) satellite – an exclusive satellite to assist farmers in activities like crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil health and weather forecasting among others. Utilising satellite imagery for rendering integrated service for the fishermen’s community, ensuring both their safety and security, will also be a key component.
Besides, the promise on the farm sector also focussed on use of technology in farming operations with BJP announcing to develop Digital Public Infrastructure to remove information asymmetry in agriculture and provide farmer-centric solutions and services.