Syllabus: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices
Context: Madhya Pradesh, producing over 40% of India’s soybean, faces a brewing agricultural crisis. Young farmers are abandoning cultivation due to multiple systemic failures, threatening both food security and farmer livelihoods.
Key Issues:
- MSP Implementation Failure: Government announced MSP of ₹5,328/quintal, but farmers sell at ₹3,000-3,500/quintal (less than half MSP).
- Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (price difference payment scheme) lacks transparency with manipulated model prices.
- Declining Productivity & Profitability: Yield dropped from 4+ quintals/acre to 2-2.5 quintals/acre. Input costs (₹8,000-10,000/acre) and harvesting (₹2,500-3,000/acre) exceed returns.
- Import Threat: U.S. soybean costs $380/tonne vs India’s $620/tonne. Potential imports would devastate 1.2 crore farmers and 180 processing plants worth ₹6-7 billion. Samyukt Kisan Morcha opposes I2U2 and UK trade agreements threatening agriculture.
- Cultivation Decline: Kharif 2025 saw overall oilseed area decrease by 10.62 lakh hectares; soybean alone declined by 9.1 lakh hectares.
- Farmers switching to alternatives like maize despite nilgai (antelope) menace.
- Seed Quality Crisis: Poor quality seeds from private suppliers (ICAR unable to provide adequate quantity). Shift from ‘lab to land’ to ‘market to land’ compromised productivity over 30-40 years.
- Protein Crop Paradox: Only 18-19% used for oil; primarily a protein crop (40% protein content). But, 90% of the produce is currently used for cattle feed; lacks value-added human food products.
Way Forward:
- Ensure transparent MSP procurement
- Improve seed quality through ICAR
- Develop value-added products
- Protect domestic industry from unfair imports
- Promote soybean-based human food products
- Provide compensation for current season losses
- Integrate farmer concerns in trade negotiations.
Q- Critically analyze the barriers to developing value-added products from agricultural produce. Suggest strategies to enhance farmer incomes through value-chain development. (10 Marks, 150 words)