Fair prices (Swaminathan formula)
The 2015 proposal
Fair prices on the Swaminathan formula — a minimum support price at least 50% above the average weighted cost of production.
Where it stands in 2026
Since 2018-19, MSP is set at 1.5 × A2+FL cost; farmer movements demand 1.5 × C2 (the fuller cost, including imputed land and capital). PM-AASHA is the procurement umbrella. The live debate is precisely which cost concept counts.
The open gap
The C2-based formula — the Commission's full demand — remains open.
The path to close it
Move the benchmark from 1.5×A2+FL toward 1.5×C2 in phases — starting with the most distress-prone crops — and back it with PM-AASHA procurement plus deficiency-price payments so the guarantee bites without the state buying everything. Publish CACP's A2+FL and C2 for every crop on an open dashboard (this site's price tool already shows the gap) so the cost-concept debate is settled with numbers, not slogans.
Sources
- ↗ Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (cost & MSP data) — CACP, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare
- ↗ National Commission on Farmers (Swaminathan) — reports — PRS Legislative Research (summary) · Govt. of India, 2004–2006
- ↓ OECD's Producer Support Estimate and Related Indicators of Agricultural Support (PSE Manual) — OECD, Trade and Agriculture Directorate, 2016
- ↗ Minimum Support Prices in India: Distilling the Facts — Review of Agrarian Studies (Gupta, Khera & Narayanan), 2021
- ↓ The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2009: High Food Prices and the Food Crisis — FAO, 2009