The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has been cheating the farmers for the last four years by not fulfilling it poll promise of 2021 of increasing the minimum support price of ₹2,500 for a quintal of paddy, said a farmers’ federation.
In a statement, Ram Pandian, Virudhunagar district president of Cauvery Vaigai Kiruthumal Gundar Irrigation Farmers’ Federation, said that the DMK in its Assembly election manifesto had promised to increase the MSP for a quintal of paddy to ₹2,500 on coming to power.
The farmers also voted for the DMK falling for the party’s promise.
However, the DMK had not fulfilled its promise for the last four years. Farmers of Virudhunagar district have been indulged in paddy farming in large numbers in the State.
“Only on August 29, the Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, has announced the increase of MSP for a quintal of paddy to ₹2,500 with effect from September 1, 2025,” he said.
The Government made meagre raise in MSP for paddy in the last four years.
“The announcement of increasing it to ₹2,500 a quintal of paddy just months before the next Assembly election in 2026 amounts to cheating the farmers,” Mr. Ram Pandian said.
He said that the DMK has proved that it is a party that would fulfill its poll promise only when the next election approached.
The federation complained that the price of all inputs for paddy cultivation has increased over the years.
The price of 50-kg of DAP, the primary macro-nutrient fertilizer, has increased to ₹1,800. “If the DMK had implemented its poll promise immediately in 2021, given the steep increase of price of inputs, the MSP would have increased to of ₹3,000 a quintal,” Mr. Ram Pandian said.
This would have forced the private traders also to buy paddy at ₹3,000 a quintal.
The State Government should give due compensation to the farmers for not having implemented its poll promise for the last four years, the statement said.
The Government should form a committee comprising farmers to calculate the input cost following the increase in the price of fertilizers, pesticide and announce the MSP that would benefit the farmers with a remunerative price.
Published – August 31, 2025 08:07 pm IST
