The Union Cabinet's economic affairs committee approved higher support prices for six rabi crops on September 30, 2026, for the 2027-28 marketing season. The largest increase was for safflower, while wheat received the smallest increase in rupees per quintal.
Akashvani reported increases of Rs 675 for safflower, Rs 413 for rapeseed and mustard, Rs 390 for masur, Rs 136 for barley, Rs 83 for gram and Rs 25 for wheat. These are increases, not the new total prices payable per quintal.
The Agriculture Ministry's table sets the new levels at Rs 7,215 for safflower, Rs 6,613 for rapeseed and mustard, Rs 7,390 for masur, Rs 2,286 for barley, Rs 5,958 for gram and Rs 2,610 for wheat. The relevant season is 2027-28 even though the decision was announced in 2026.
Calculated from the old and new prices in that table, safflower's increase is about 10.3%, compared with about 1.0% for wheat. This comparison captures the difference in the revision more clearly than the rupee amounts alone.
The ministry also publishes estimated production costs and margins over those costs. Its cost definition includes paid inputs and an imputed value for family labour. That is a specified national calculation, not a measurement of every individual farm's expenses.
A higher announced support price and a farmer's realised income are not the same measure. The release supplies benchmark prices, not evidence of each grower's yield, sale quantity or realised selling price. It is therefore a basis for comparing the government's price decision, not for promising a particular increase in household earnings.
