It is not clear if the Union government will bear the entire 75 percent cost of the MIS, as requested by Chandrababu Naidu.
Published Feb 22, 2025 | 6:23 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 22, 2025 | 6:23 PM
Special varieties of chillies were selling at ₹13,600 per quintal in Andhra Pradesh, while the normal variety was priced at ₹11,500 a quintal. (Indika Kumara/Wikimedia Commons)
Synopsis: Various geopolitical factors led to an oversupply of chillies in markets and a sharp fall in prices, prompting the state government to seek the Centre’s intervention. The Union government responded swiftly and decided to expand the scope of MIS.
Bringing relief to chilli farmers in Andhra Pradesh, the Union government has decided to expand the scope of the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) to 75 percent from the current 25 percent.
The decision was made at a meeting Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired in Delhi on Friday, 21 February.
Union Minister K Rammohan Naidu, who briefed the decisions to the media after the meeting, said the MIS would now cover 75 percent of the difference between the cost of production and the minimum procurement price.
The Centre will determine the price after getting the approval of the committee of ministers.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wrote to the Centre seeking assistance for the farmers, as chilli prices plummeted. He also raised the issue personally in Delhi, where attended the new chief minister Rekha Gupta’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, 20 February.
The state government had also requested the Agriculture Ministry to fix the minimum procurement price above chilli’s production cost of ₹11,600 per quintal so that the farmers would not incur losses.
Rammohan Naidu mentioned that the central government estimated the production cost to be ₹10,000 per quintal. However, he, along with State Agriculture Minister K Atchen Naidu and other officials, urged the Centre to hike it to ₹11,600 or higher to benefit farmers.
The issue was referred to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) officials, who also attended the meeting.
However, the central minister did not clarify whether the Union government had agreed to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s demand that the Centre must bear the entire 75 percent cost of the MIS, as the state was facing a financial problem.
In his recent letters to the Union Agriculture Minister, the chief minister raised the need for increasing the MIS coverage from 25 percent to 75 percent and proposed that the Centre fully funded the scheme instead of sharing the burden equally with the state.
During the lengthy meeting, other issues affecting chilli production and marketing were also discussed. The Union agriculture minister responded positively to the state’s proposal to take appropriate action on the inputs it would provide after a meeting with chilli exporters and farmers.
The meeting acknowledged that geopolitical issues led to a decline in international demand, resulting in an oversupply of chillies in Andhra Pradesh markets.
Rammohan Naidu appreciated Shivraj Singh Chouhan for rushing to Delhi from Madhya Pradesh on Friday to attend the meeting, after Chandrababu Naidu’s video conference with him on Thursday.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
