CROP DIVERSIFICATION

Topic: Economy

In News: Centre has adopted MSP, but States must facilitate crop shift’ says MSP panel in Economic Survey.

About:

There is an urgent need for crop diversification in view of the severe water stress in areas where paddy, wheat and sugarcane are grown as well as to increase oil seed production and reduce dependency on imports of cooking oil.
While the Centre had adopted minimum support prices (MSP) for farm produce as a key tool to encourage crop diversiﬁcation, the onus was on States to take coordinated action to facilitate a shift towards crops with higher value and lower water consumption.
The survey urged for an increase in funding for agricultural research rather than farm subsidies, noting that “every rupee spent on agricultural research and development yields better re- turns compared subsidies.
The government noted that agriculture continued to be a major driver of the economy in the pandemic era, with the sector’s growth rate rising from 3.6% in 2020-21 to 3.9% in 2021-2022.