Fair Average Quality

Also called: FAQ · Topic: Agricultural Marketing, MSP, Buffer Stocks and PDS · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Fair Average Quality (FAQ) is the basic quality standard a crop must meet before a government agency will buy it at the minimum support price (MSP), the floor price the government promises to pay. The standard sets limits on things like moisture, broken or shrivelled grain, dirt and damage. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) buys wheat and rice only if they meet these norms, and the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) buys cotton the same way. This matters because the MSP safety net covers only FAQ produce. A farmer whose crop is spoiled by bad weather may fail the test, and must then sell in the open market, often below MSP. The government can relax the norms after a natural calamity, but if it does not, the farmers hit hardest get the least protection.

Example

When cotton market prices fall below MSP, CCI buys all FAQ cotton that farmers offer, with no upper limit on quantity. In 2026, a poor Southwest monsoon damaged the cotton crop. Farmers whose cotton was too damaged to meet FAQ norms could not sell it to CCI, so they bore the full fall in market prices.

Don't confuse with

• Assaying: this is the process of testing a crop's quality, for example on e-NAM so that distant buyers can bid with confidence. FAQ is the standard the crop must meet for MSP procurement.
• Minimum support price: MSP is the price the government assures. FAQ decides which produce qualifies for that price.

Read more

• Agricultural Marketing, MSP, Buffer Stocks and PDS