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Informist, Monday, Apr. 13, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Monday issued notices to the Centre, the director general of foreign trade, and the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices on a public interest petition seeking fixation of minimum support prices for all agricultural crops on the basis of the weighted average cost of production in all states and to ensure procurement of crops from farmers at that price. The court will hear the petition by farmers Prakash Gopalrao Pohare, Purushottam Gawande, and Vishal Omprakash Rawat on Jul. 20. Pohare is also editor-in-chief of the Marathi daily Deshonnati.

 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said farmers in India are facing a severe financial crisis as they are often unable to sell their produce even at the cost of production. This results in widespread distress and suicides, he said. Bhushan cited data that more than 17,000 farmers had died by suicide in Maharashtra alone in the last five years.

 

Bhushan said the comprehensive cost of cultivation, termed C2, includes actual input costs, imputed value of family labour, rental value of owned land, rent paid for leased land, and interest on working capital. However, the present minimum support price calculation methodology is largely based on A2+FL, which means paid-out costs plus family labour multiplied by 1.5, thereby excluding key components such as land and capital costs and understating the true economic cost borne by farmers, he said.

 

The bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said difficulties may arise, particularly in assessing components such as the cost of land and capital, as these may vary significantly from state to state. The relief sought by the petitioners would effectively require the court to rewrite economic policy, the bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said. To this, Bhushan said it was fine for the government to distribute food grain free, but that should not mean farmers should not get their costs, driving them to end their lives.

 

Currently, procurement at minimum support price is carried out mainly for wheat and rice, while most other crops are not procured even at the declared price, aggravating financial distress among farmers, said Bhushan. The subsidised distribution of wheat and rice under the food security framework has distorted agricultural markets and depressed demand for other crops such as millets, he said.

 

The petitioners have sought directions to the Centre to align minimum support price with the government's own calculated comprehensive cost of production. They have also sought the establishment of adequate procurement infrastructure to ensure effective purchase of crops at the minimum support price.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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