Dubey defends Centre on Swaminathan report

DUMKA: Godda BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has defended the Centre's stand on not incorporating certain recommendations of the MS Swaminathan committee report, which forms the basis for the formation of national policy for farmers in terms of fixation of minimum support price.
Dubey was speaking at a divisional level farmers' fair and agriculture exhibition organized by the agriculture department at Outdoor Stadium on Sunday.
Referring to accusations by the Opposition, Dubey said it was impossible to fix minimum support prices for crops considering diverse factors including unequal cost on agriculture, large scale differences in the nature of land, among other factors, which help in deciding a uniform minimum support price on agricultural products.
"It is impractical to fix uniform support price for crops as agriculture costs vary owing to nature of land, use of fertilizer and availability of irrigation facilities," said Dubey, adding that the cost of farming in same localities also varies owing to those considerations.
He further said 85% of farmers possessed few acres of land and that the government's move to come up with the minimum support price would benefit only a small section of marginal farmers.
"Majority of farmers in the country do not have enough agricultural yields to sell it out. Minimum support price is insignificant for them," said the MP.
Dubey, while appreciating chief minister Raghubar Das for giving important cabinet berths including agriculture, welfare and skill development to representatives of assembly constituencies of santhal pargana said: "Santhal pargana lags behind in agricultural output apart from deplorable socio-economic conditions. Around 72% of women in the region are anemic while a majority of youths are deprived of skill-based training," he said.