India, Oct. 2 -- The central government announced the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for rabi (winter season) crops on Wednesday. MSP for wheat, the crop that matters most in terms of actual procurement, has been kept almost flat with an increase of just Rs.25 per quintal. Other crops such as pulses and oil seeds saw larger increases. To be sure, the current government has consistently followed its policy of ensuring at least a 50% return on the all-India weighted average cost of cultivation. The relatively lower increase in wheat MSP therefore also suggests that the cost of cultivation has been flat. The policy seems prudent for two reasons. One, the government already has excess wheat stocks from the previous season's procurement and does not really need to procure much more. Two - and this is more important - the real agricultural income story is that the cost of cultivation has remained largely constant despite large inflation in key inputs such as fertilizers because of the ongoing war in West Asia. The cost of cultivation has remained constant because the government absorbed a large part of the commodity price shocks through measures like fertiliser subsidies, which will likely reflect in the budgetary numbers. These two facts make the price policy decisions a pragmatic choice. With the rabi MSP announcement out of its way - it serves as a key incentive for cultivation decisions - the agricultural policy establishment should focus its attention, energy and resources on mitigating the fall out of deficient monsoon rainfall in the country. With the rains being the weakest since 2002, there are bound to be production headwinds from outright crop failure to subdued yields....