Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently assured farmers that all major costs incurred would be taken into account to fix the minimum support price (MSP) of farm produce as promised in the Budget.

He said, “It’s is an important step related to income of hard-working farmers. We have been working with the state governments so that farmers can be benefited from it.”

He elaborated that the cost of production would include hired labour, expenses on farmers’ own or rented machinery as well as livestock, cost of seeds and fertilisers, expenses on irrigation, revenue being given to state government, interest on working capital and rent of leased land among others.

Modi said Model Acts (agriculture marketing, contract farming and land leasing) related to farmers’ welfare have been prepared and that, states have been urged to implement them as well. He spoke about all the measures which were being taken by the government to achieve its goal of doubling farmers’ income.

The Prime Minister also appealed farmers not to burn crop residues so that air pollution can also be curbed adding that if the crop residue is returned to the soil through machines, it’ll have beneficial effects.

The PM also emphasised on the importance of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in marketing farm produce and getting better prices. He stated that farmers can market their produce in a better way through FPOs, which has been exempted from income tax, on the lines of cooperative societies, in the Budget as well.