New Delhi, Aug 20 - With drought declared in half of India, the government Thursday decided to increase the minimum support prices of cereals and pulses to help farmers who have been hit by the poor monsoon.

The support price for paddy has been hiked by Rs.100 per quintal, while that for pulses is up Rs.300 per quintal, Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here after a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The support price for common paddy will now go up to Rs.950 per quintal from Rs.850, while that for the A grade variety will be Rs.980, up from Rs.880, Chidambaram said.

'Drought is an evolving situation. Minimum support price will bring relief to farmers,' he added.

The minimum support price per quintal for tur dal has gone up from Rs.2,000 to Rs.2,300, for moong dal, it is up from Rs.2,520 to Rs.2,760 and for sesame it is up from Rs.2,750 to Rs.2,850.

India had logged record foodgrain production during 2008-09 (July-June), which was estimated at 233.87 million tonnes. But the failure of monsoon this season, on which 60 percent of Indian agriculture depends, has a cast a shadow on this year's crop.