Bhubaneswar: Average monthly income of farmers in Odisha stands at a meagre Rs 5,112, said Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo in the Assembly, Wednesday, citing the National Statistical Office (NSO) data from 2018-19. Singh Deo’s statement came in response to a question posed by Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati. Bahinipati had asked the Agriculture minister to provide details about the per capita annual income of agricultural households in the state. He also sought details about the Minimum Support Price (MSP) offered by the state government per quintal of paddy, as well as the cost incurred by farmers to produce a quintal of paddy.
Additionally, the Congress MLA requested information on the cost of paddy production in both irrigated and non-irrigated farmlands. In his reply, the Deputy CM stated that for 2024-25 years, the MSP for common paddy has been set at Rs 2,300 per quintal. He added that the state government is offering additional support to farmers, bringing the total support to Rs 3,100 per quintal.
Around 65 per cent of the population in Odisha is dependent on agriculture and deprived of government facilities, the Opposition claimed. The NSO survey revealed that the average monthly income of farmers in Odisha came down to Rs 5,112 from Rs 7,731 in 2015-16. The monthly earnings of farmers in states like Bihar and Haryana are more than that of Odisha. It is worth mentioning here that the previous BJD government had claimed to double the farmers’ income which didn’t happen.
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Besides, financial assistance was extended to small and marginal farmers under the state-sponsored KALIA scheme (introduced in December 2018) but the average monthly income of farmers dropped by around 35 per cent. According to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, the cost of production for paddy in Odisha stands at Rs 2,067 per quintal.