One of the key arguments of those opposing the recently notified agriculture acts is that a large number of farmers are going to lose out on MSP procurement because of these bills. But what share of the total production of food grains, especially Rice & Wheat is procured by the government at MSP? Is this procurement even across the states? We find out. On 28 September 2020, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the three farm bills that were earlier passed by the parliament. Earlier on 17September 2020, the Lok Sabha passed three new farm bills, namely: As per the government’s justification, one of the highlights of these bills is the freedom provided for farmers to directly sell their produce, thereby creating an opportunity to get a higher price for their crops. Although the government has stated that the MSP (Minimum Support Price) procurement system will continue, the new bills have become contentious with apprehensions being raised about income security of the farmers. The opposition has been alleging that these bills are a precursor to the government eventually doing away with MSP procurement. The clarification from the government do not seem to have assuaged the fears of the farming community and there have been protests by farmers across the country. The opinion of the experts is divided on these new bills. While a few experts hail these bills as a 1991 moment for the Indian agriculture which will eventually fetch greater returns to the farmers, there are others who argue that the bills will do more harm than good for the farmers. There are broadly two arguments from both sides. Those in favour of these bills argue that an open market will fetch a better price for the farmer because of the competition. The ones against base their argument on MSP being a saviour to the farmers. In this series, we take a look at both these arguments. In the first story of this series, we look at numbers relating to MSP and the MSP procurement trend across the country and understand what proportion of the total production in the country is procured at MSP. We also look at state-wise MSP procurement trends to understand which states benefit the most today from the MSP regime. MSP of Jowar and Ragi increased the greatest over the last 10 marketing years We have earlier written an explainer on the role of FCI in procurement of the produce from the farmers at the MSP fixed by the government. Apart from fixing MSP for Rice and Wheat, the government also fixes MSP for Coarse grain like Jowar, Bajra, Ragi, Maize and Barley. The MSP for Rice and Wheat, the largest produced crops has only marginally increased over the 10-year period (2011-21). For the Marketing year 2011-12, the MSP provided by the government for Paddy of Common type was Rs.1080 per quintal, while that of Grade-A paddy was Rs.1,110 per quintal. After a marginal increase year-on-year, there was a considerable increase for Marketing year 2018-19. For the Marketing year of 2020-21, the MSP for the two variants of Paddy is Rs. 1868 and Rs. 1888 respectively i.e. an increase by 73% and 70% respectively in these 10 years. During the same period, the MSP of Wheat increased by 64.5% i.e. from Rs. 1170 in 2011-12 to Rs. 1925 in 2020-21. Meanwhile, the MSP for few of the coarse grains has increased considerably compared to Rice and Wheat. The two variants of Jowar i.e. Maldandi and Hybrid have increased by around 165% during the 10-year period. Currently, Ragi is the crop which receives the highest MSP. For the Marketing year 2020-21, the MSP for Ragi is Rs. 3295 per quintal. It also has the highest increment during the 10-year period, the MSP has more than tripled from Rs. 1050 in 2011-12 to Rs. 3295 in 2020-21. The MSP of Bajra has more than doubled in 10 years while the increase in the MSP of Maize and Barley is comparatively lesser. The proportion of Rice procured at MSP has slightly increased over the last two years During the five-year period 2015-20, the total production of Rice has increased from 1,044.88 lakh tons to 1,179.39 lakh tons. During this period, the MSP for Paddy (common) has increased from Rs. 1410 per quintal to Rs. 1815 per quintal. Despite this increase in production, only a fraction of the total produce is actually procured by the government through FCI and state agencies. There has been a slight increase in the proportion procured by the government over the last two years. During 2018-19, out of the total production of 1,164.78 lakh tons, 443.99 lakh tons was procured i.e. around 38%. This is comparatively higher than earlier years where the procurement was around 1/3 the total produce. Meanwhile, the procurement in 2019-20 has increased to 43% of the total production.