Despite a 1.5× cost-of-production formula, the benefits of MSP remain regionally and crop-wise skewed. Analyse, and suggest how PM-AASHA can address this.

Since the Union Budget 2018-19, every MSP must be at least 1.5× the all-India weighted average cost of production. For RMS 2027-28, all six Rabi crops clear this bar [1]. Yet the formula fixes the level of the price, not access to it. Only farmers whose crop is actually procured gain, which skews benefits by region and by crop.

Regional skew

• Procurement concentration: in 2019-20, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana grew 46% of India's wheat but supplied 85% of its procurement [2].
• Eastern neglect: smallholders in eastern UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam often make distress sales far below MSP [3].

Crop-wise skew

• Cereal dominance: public procurement is largely limited to rice and wheat, with pulses bought only to a limited extent [2]. Wheat made up ~95% of Rabi procurement from 2014-15 to 2025-26 (3,715 of 3,921 LMT) [1].
• Hollow signal: in RMS 2027-28, mustard (+₹413) and safflower (+₹675) got far bigger rises than wheat (+₹25) [1]. Without an assured buyer, farmers stick with wheat.
• Margin paradox: wheat earns a 106% margin over cost against safflower's 50% [1].
• Ecological cost: the wheat-paddy bias deepens water stress in procurement-heavy regions [2].

How PM-AASHA can address this

• PSS: expand MSP procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra. Target eastern and rainfed States, as the Shanta Kumar Committee urged for FCI [3][4].
• PDPS: pay farmers the gap between MSP and the market price without buying the crop. Relaxing its caps (15% of MSP; 40% of oilseed output) would make oilseed MSPs credible without new storage [4].
• PPSS: scale the private-stockist pilot to districts that lack public procurement infrastructure [4].
• Funding: the 2026-27 allocation of ₹7,200 crore, up just 3.7%, does not match the scale of diversification intended [5].
• State convergence: pair PM-AASHA with State incentives such as Haryana's ₹7,000 per acre for farmers shifting away from paddy [2].

The skew in MSP benefits stems from how procurement is designed, not from the pricing formula. A well-funded PM-AASHA can turn MSP announcements into assured income for eastern smallholders and pulse and oilseed growers. It should use PSS where public buying is feasible and PDPS where physical storage is unnecessary. This would advance crop diversification, SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 6 (water security).