Paddy procurement to begin in UP from October 1 with a target of 60 lakh metric tonnes

Paddy procurement is set to begin from October 1 in Uttar Pradesh with the government fixing a target to purchase 60 lakh metric tonnes of paddy at the rate of Rs 2,369 per quintal.

The government has announced simplification of the farmer registration process to make it hassle free. So far, 5,022 farmers have registered to sell their paddy to the government at the minimum support price (MSP).

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UP Food and Civil Supplies Commissioner Bhupendra Chaudhary said here on Monday that the paddy procurement policy for the marketing season of the year 2025-26 will soon be placed before the cabinet for approval. “Our target is to start procurement from the districts of western Uttar Pradesh from October 1. Procurement in eastern Uttar Pradesh will start from November 1,” he added.

However, he refused to give other details till the policy was approved by the state cabinet.

Officials aware of the proposed policy said the department would propose a target of procuring 60 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy this year at the MSP already fixed by the Centre, i.e. Rs 2,369 per quintal, which is Rs 69 more than last year. Last time, the government had procured over 57.70 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from farmers through 4372 government procurement centres.

This year’s policy proposes to further simplify the process of registration of farmers and make better arrangements at procurement centres for sellers. “Last year, more than 9 lakh farmers had registered. Our effort is to ensure that more and more farmers and genuine farmers register this year to avail the benefit of MSP,” an official said.

The government is expected to set up 4,500 procurement centres across the state in collaboration with the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Currently, there are 1820 rice mills in the state that process paddy supplied to them by the government.

Paddy procurement is expected to begin first in Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi and Lucknow divisions. In the rest of the state, it may begin from November 1.