Jute growers await hike in MSP

4 November 2011

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 4 NOV: In a bid to aid farmers in areas of West Bengal, including East Midnapore, where jute is cultivated, the Centre is planning on hiking the minimum support price (MSP) for raw jute.
"The Centre is planning to hike the MSP for raw jute after considering Miss Mamata Banerjee's recent request for a bonus of Rs 400 a quintal for the current jute season in her meeting with the National Development Council in Delhi," said an official at the state Agriculture Marketing department.
The Opposition leader in the Assembly, Mr Surjya Kanta Mishra, also submitted a deputation with the state agriculture minister regarding the same matter.
He said that farmers in the state are reeling under the pressure of rising agricultural products, including fertilisers, and that they are getting sub-par prices for their products, primarily rice, jute, and potatoes.
East Midnapore farmers are dissatisfied with the jute minimum support price (MSP); they are blaming the Centre for fixing the jute MSP rate below the market price.
The chief minister earlier held a meeting with Jute Corporation of India Ltd. (JCI) officials, at which she had offered the additional price and urged them to start procuring jute at the enhanced price. The state will continue to cover the additional amount until the Centre enhances the MSP.
The JCI's current MSPs vary from district to district: farmers get Rs 1,700 for a quintal of jute in Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri, Rs 1,713 in South Dinajpur and Malda, Rs 1,725 in Murshidabad and Rs 1,738 in Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan, East and West Midnapore and South and North 24-Parganas.
“Farmers are virtually rotting in their fields because they are being deprived of the minimum support price of paddy and jute. Some are even burning their jute crop in frustration. If things continue like this, suicides might also take place,” said a Communist Party of India-Marxist leader. A senior agri-marketing official said, “Proper marketing of agricultural produce is critical for the development of the sector in the state. The state government plans to introduce a three-tier marketing facility within the state, with the primary tier catering to the rural population.”
The sector faces a number of major challenges, the officer added, including poor connectivity, a lack of warehousing facility, and the prevalence of middlemen.