Abstract

The three main crops in the world are rice, maize and wheat. In 2019, India was behind only China in wheat and rice production, while at the seventh position in maize cultivation (FAO statistics). Fifty-nine per cent of the Indian population is engaged in agriculture and contribute 23% of the GDP, 70% of the rural household depends on agriculture, and 82% of the farmer's population belongs to small and marginal farmers. Despite 275 million tonnes of total food grain production in 2017-18, India is a home of 190 million undernourished population (India at a Glance, 2021). The research focus is to measure the role of Minimum Support Price (MSP) in enhancing the living standards of different categories of agriculture landholders engaged in wheat cultivation, and for analysis purposes, it develops a model relating production cost, the effect of high and low yield on crop income and MSP rate (3 categories at MSP, above 20% of MSP and above 40% of MSP).

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