In separate interviews on these issues with two leading experts who have, recently, written about them, Karan Thapar for The Wire spoke to Ashok Gulati, former Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and presently Infosys Professor for Agriculture at ICRIER, and Reetika Khera, Associate Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.

Ashok Gulati repeatedly asserts that only 6% of farmers benefit from MSP. As evidence, he cites both the NSSO’s Situation Assessment Survey of 2012-13, the last such survey that is available, as well as his own research on the value of agri-produce bought by the government at MSP prices in 2018-19.

In response to this Ashok Gulati says that Reetika Khera’s claim depends upon what definition is used for large farmers. He says if you define large farmers as people with over 10 hectares of land you are limiting it to just 1%. He prefers to define large farmers as people with holdings over 4 hectares. In response to this, Reetika Khera says that the definition of large farmers as people with 10 hectares or more is a government definition and one accepted by every expert in the field.