Indian farmers refuse the government’s offer of a support price contract

According to one of their representatives, the Indian farmers’ unions have rejected the government’s five-year contracts for minimum support prices (MSPs), which were put on social media platform X on Monday.

Following a week of skirmishes between demonstrators and security forces, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Sunday that the Indian government has extended guaranteed support prices for pulses, corn, and cotton in an attempt to end the impasse with the protesting farmers.

Tear gas and roadblocks were deployed months in advance of a general election that is scheduled for May, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is vying for an unprecedented third term, to dissuade the farmers, who constitute a significant voting bloc.

Goyal’s remarks came after protracted negotiations with farmers’ unions ended when the demonstrators, who are calling for legally mandated increases in pricing for around two dozen crops, were forced to disperse some 200 kilometers (125 miles) outside of New Delhi.

According to Goyal, the government has offered minimum support prices (MSPs) for five years, paid for by co-ops it supports, to farmers who diversify their crops to cultivate cotton, pigeon peas, black matpe, red lentils, and corn.

In the northern city of Chandigarh, Goyal told reporters, “These organizations will buy the produce and there will be no limit on quantity.” He also said that farmers who diversify and grow cotton would receive a similar price guarantee.

The farmers’ unions had promised to make a decision on the plan in a day or two, once they had come to an agreement among themselves. However, one of its representatives, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, stated that the unions had rejected the idea in a video posted by Reuters partner ANI.

According to farm analysts, the administration has entirely disregarded farmer demands.

“One of the primary demands for a legal guarantee for MSPs should have been addressed by the government,” independent food and trade policy specialist Devinder Sharma stated.

Sharma said that the government’s suggested solutions differ greatly from what the farmers have been arguing for, showing a lack of commitment to the issue as a whole.

Removing more water-demanding crops like rice and wheat in favor of pulses will not only assist replenish the declining water table but also reduce the amount of pulses imported.

India, the largest importer of pulses in the world, has had difficulty containing price hikes for black matpe and pigeon peas.

The biofuel and poultry sectors are driving up demand for corn domestically.

Thousands of farmers, who primarily cultivate rice and wheat, were trying to march to New Delhi to urge their demand that the government guarantee a minimum price for all of their produce, but police stopped them with barriers and tear gas.

Each year, the government sets a baseline by announcing support prices for over 20 crops; nonetheless, the majority of rice and wheat are purchased at the support level by state agencies, benefiting just around 7 percent of farmers who grow those commodities.