UNDER the leadership of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, the Chhattisgarh government’s paddy procurement drive is progressing smoothly. Paddy is being pro cured from registered farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), as announced by the Government of India for the Kharif Marketing Year 2025-26. Officials of the Agriculture Department informed that paddy procurement is being carried out smoothly through 2,739 procurement centres operating across State. The procurement period has been fixed from November 15, 2025 to January 31, 2026.

 

To ensure hassle-free procurement for farmers, officials have been issued clear instructions. Strict vigilance is being maintained to curb illegal transportation of paddy Comprehensive arrangements have been put in place for paddy procurement from farmers. For the Kharif Marketing Year 2025–26, the process of farmer registration is being conducted through the Integrated Farmer Portal and the AgriStack Portal. At present, the paddy area of 34.39 lakh hectares belonging to 27.40 lakh farmers has been registered for procurement. Whereas in the previous year, 25.49 lakh farmers had sold paddy at MSP from a registered area of 28.76 lakh hectares.

 

This reflects an increase of approximately 7.5 percent in the number of registered farmers and a significant 19 percent rise in the registered area this year. Institutionally registered farmers, landless farmers (Adhiya/Regha), farmers from low-laying areas, forest rights title holders, and village Kotwars (government leaseholders) have been exempted from AgriStack registration. The process of farmer registration is currently ongoing. Chief Minister Sai stated that keeping farmers’ interests at the forefront, the State government has introduced a 24 hour token facility through the ‘Tuhar Token’ app for the Kharif Marketing Year 2025–26. So far, 17.24 lakh tokens have been issued for the procurement of 87 lakh tonnes of paddy.

 

Farmers can obtain tokens for up to the next 20 days in advance, ensuring better planning and convenience. Officials further informed that, as of December 11, 2025, an amount of Rs 7,771 crore has already been paid to farm ers against paddy procurement at the Minimum Support Price. Special inspection teams comprising officials from the Revenue, Food, Cooperation, Forest and Mandi and other departments have been constituted at the district level to check illegal paddy sale and transportation. At the State-level, a State Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) has been established under MARKFED. So far, more than 2,000 cases of illegal transportation and storage of paddy have been registered across the state, leading to the seizure of 1.93 lakh tonnes of illegally held paddy.