Farmers would prefer direct income transfer (The Hindu Business Line)

Tina Edwin of The Hindu Business Line sat down with IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan to discuss monsoons and minimum support prices (MSP) in India. Fan said MSP, which is the price the government will purchase crops from farmers and was meant to incentivize farmers to grow certain crops, is not working. Said Fan: “I think the price support is very costly, not easy to implement. We should get away from that. I would prefer a strategy which encourages farmers to diversify their crops and thereby reduce their risks, whether it is surprise risk, climate risk or market risk. So, you may lose on rice but you may gain in other crop. But, to do that, the government should move away from purely supporting one or two crops such as rice and wheat; everybody will produce that crop and then the farmer will become more vulnerable.” Read the full article for learn more.