By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, June 17: The government has fixed the minimum support price for paddy for the upcoming fiscal year.

This is the first time that the government fixed the minimum support price for paddy in the beginning of the plantation season.

A Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday fixed the minimum support price of paddy, said Dr. Hari Bahadur KC, spokesman at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

According to him, the minimum support price for coarse paddy has been fixed at Rs. 2,735 per quintal. Similarly, the support price for medium quality paddy is fixed at Rs. 2,885 per quintal.

Last year, the government had fixed the minimum support price for coarse paddy at Rs. 2531.80 per quintal and Rs. 2,673 per quintal for medium quality paddy.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies had tabled the minimum support price of paddy under the recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

The government introduced a plan to fix the minimum support price of crops before their plantation from this year aiming to ensure savings and profit for the farmers while planting the crops.

He said that the ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development had recommended the minimum support price of paddy ensuring 10 per cent transporting cost along with 20 per cent profit in the cost of production.

This is the appropriate time to fix the support price of paddy as the paddy plantation of rainy season and harvesting of the early paddy began, he informed.

The minimum support price is a measure taken by the government to protect farmers against sudden decline in the market price. The Food Management and Trading Company Limited used to purchase paddy from the farmers at the minimum support price.

Rice expert Bholaman Singh Basnet said that the fixing of support price by the government before the plantation was positive for the farmers and would help them to decide which type of paddy to plant based on the rate.

He said that the government should manage the system to purchase paddy from the farmers itself and to develop infrastructure for storage.

This system would encourage farmers in expanding paddy plantation area and increase production as well after guarantee of sale, he said.