Farmers' body SKM calls MSP hike on rabi crops 'insult', threatens village agitation

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday rejected the government's minimum support prices for rabi crops for the 2027-28 marketing season, terming the ₹25-per-quintal hike in wheat MSP an insult to foodgrain producers. SKM said it will not accept the announced prices and called on farmers and rural youth to burn copies of the government order in every village as a mark of protest.

The farmers' body disputed the government's claim that the new MSPs provide a 106 per cent return over the cost of production. SKM said the government's MSP calculation was based on 1.5 times the input cost using the A2+FL formula, which includes actual costs paid for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation, along with imputed family labour value, but excludes the rental value of farmers' own land and interest on their own capital. According to SKM, the comprehensive C2 cost should be used for fixing MSP instead.

SKM claimed that even on Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) data, the margin for wheat worked out to 43 per cent rather than the government's stated 106 per cent. The farmers' body argued that no rabi crop receives the C2+50% formula it demands, highlighting the disparity between the government's calculation methodology and SKM's expectations.