Cabinet approves MSP hike for wheat, mustard, lentil and three other Rabi crops

NEW DELHI: Giving signal to farmers about making their choice of crops ahead of the peak winter sowing season, the govt on Wednesday approved a hike in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for six Rabi crops increasing the support price of mustard & rapeseed by Rs 300 per quintal, of lentil by Rs 275 per quintal and of wheat by Rs 150 per quintal.

The hike will bring the new MSP of mustard & rapeseed, lentil, wheat and gram to Rs 5950 per quintal, Rs 6700 per quintal, Rs 2425 per quintal and Rs 5650 per quintal, respectively, during the 2025-26 marketing season, beginning April 1. It’ll cost Rs 87,657 crore.

Though mustard & rapeseed and lentil (masur) secured higher hike in absolute terms in sync with the govt’s focus on oilseeds and pulses, farmers will get the highest percentage return over production cost in the case of wheat - the most popular Rabi crops which occupies the highest acreage among all six MSP-backed winter sown crops.

The expected margin over all-India weighted average cost of production is 105% for wheat, followed by 98% for rapeseed & mustard; 89% for lentil; 60% each for gram and barley; and 50% for safflower.

“This increased MSP of Rabi crops will ensure remunerative prices to the farmers and incentivise crop diversification,” said I&B minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, while sharing details of the cabinet decision.

He said the hike was in line with the 2018-19 Budget announcement of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production.

Although the announcement comes as Maharashtra and Jharkhand are heading for assembly elections, Vaishnaw dismissed any connection between the MSP hike s and the upcoming polls, saying such announcements typically occur around this time. Even last year, the cabinet approved the MSP hike on Oct 18, 2023.