Cabinet okays doubling of MSP scheme for oilseeds and pulses to Rs19,000 cr

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the regularisation and extension of government guarantee provided to lender bank for providing credit limit to National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) to Rs19,000 crore from the earlier Rs9,500 crore for undertaking procurement operation of pulses and oilseeds under Price Support Scheme (PSS).

The scheme also extends Rs45 crore to the Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) for meeting their existing liability and settlement of extant claims.  These government guarantees are provided for a period of five years, ie, till 2021-22 by the central government and with waiver of 1 per cent guarantee fee.

As the market price of almost all pulses and oilseeds are ruling below minimum support price (MSP) as notified by the government, provision of government guarantee will help in protecting the farmers from making distress sales during the peak arrival period and provide remunerative prices with a view to encourage higher investment and production and also  safeguard the interest of consumer by making available supplies at reasonable price with low cost of intermediation, an official release stated.