CAG pulls up government for fixing foodgrain MSPs in ‘skewed’ manner

08 May 2013 Evaluate

The government, battling the charges of several scams has been hit again with another accusation by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), who has pulled up the government for fixing the minimum support price (MSP) of foodgrain crops in a ‘skewed’ manner without following any specific norms and stressed on the need for greater transparency in the method of arriving at MSP over cost of production.

The CAG has also found fault in the way norms were set for maintaining buffer foodgrains for meeting unforeseen event. As per the CAG, storage capacity owned by state-run FCI was constant during the audit period of 2006-07 to 2011-12, which led to a huge rise in hiring charges paid to private godowns.

The CAG in its report on FCI's Foodgrains Management said, ‘while determining the cost of production for each crop, the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) followed a set procedure. No specific norm, however, followed for arriving and fixing of MSP over the cost of production leading to large year-on-year variations.’

Normally, after taking into account the recommendations of the advisory body - CACP, the government announces the support price for about 20 farm items. However, as per the CAG report, the margin of MSP fixed over the cost of production varied widely between 29% and 66% in the case of wheat and between 14% and 60% in case of paddy during the period 2006-07 and 2011-12.

Apart from this, wide variation was also seen in the incidence of statutory charges (mandi charges) and non-statutory charges (transportation cost, labour and others) imposed by states, which increases the acquisition cost of wheat and rice. From Rs 908.42 per quintal in 2006-7, acquisition cost of wheat increased to Rs 1,354.86 per quintal in 2011-12, whereas the cost of rice rose to Rs 1,862.2 per quintal from Rs 1,101.6 per quintal in the same period. Further, the CAG report also suggested increasing procurement to meet growing demand from the current level of 45%.

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