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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026

 

By Afra Abubacker

NEW DELHI – Despite farmers sowing less paddy this kharif season, the government plans to procure 71.95 million tonnes of paddy during the kharif marketing season 2026-27 (Oct-Sep), largely in line with last year. This is mainly due to higher paddy purchase targets for Punjab, Chhattisgarh, among others, which are expected to mostly offset reductions in several others, according to official data. Last year, the government had planned to procure 72.05 million tonnes of kharif paddy, but bought over 81 million tonnes amid strong production. 

 

Though the government sets targets for states to procure paddy from farmers, it gets paddy custom-milled and stores it as rice in godowns to ensure food security and check prices through the open market sales scheme. In terms of rice, the government expects millers to process 71.95 million tonnes of kharif paddy procured by the government, resulting in 48.24 million tonnes of rice, largely in line with 48.28 million tonnes of rice milled last year.  

 

For the 2026-26 kharif marketing season (Oct-Sep), Food Corp. of India and state agencies aim to buy 18.0 million tonnes from Punjab, up from 17.3 million tonnes, amid record paddy planting in the state. Farmers in Punjab have sown paddy over a record 3.29 million hectares, up from 3.26 million hectares a year ago. 

 

"Punjab farmers know that most of the paddy will be bought by the government. That is why they are increasingly cultivating crops that are taken care of by the government (through assured procurement)," Rahul Chauhan, director, IGrain said. In addition, Punjab is majorly irrigated and not rain-fed, offering the state some respite from poor rainfall due to El Nino conditions. 

 

FCI and state agencies will start procuring paddy in Punjab from October, and aim to procure 18 million tonnes of paddy by November-end. Last year, Punjab fell short of its target and closed paddy procurement with 15.7 million tonnes, yielding 10.5 million tonnes of rice. 

 

Though Chhattisgarh exceeded last year's procurement target of 10.9 million tonnes by purchasing 14.1 million tonnes, the government has retained the same procurement target for 2026-27. Last year, the state bought about 9.5 million tonnes of rice.

 

Meanwhile, the paddy procurement target for Tamil Nadu is set 19% higher on year to 2.8 million tonnes for 2026-27, and 5% higher on year at 2.5 million tonnes for Andhra Pradesh. FCI has started procuring paddy in Tamil Nadu, and about 124,570 tonnes were bought as of Monday, according to data. 

 

However, the paddy procurement target has been lowered from last year for many major rice producers such as Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar. As of Friday, the area under paddy cultivation fell nearly 4% on year to 42.93 million hectares as farmers shifted to other crops due to poor and uneven rainfall due to El Nino conditions. 

 

India's kharif rice production is estimated to decline 5-7% on year to 116-118 million tonnes in 2026-27 amid reduced yield and acreage, according to commodity markets expert G. Chandrashekhar. Last year, kharif rice output was at a record 124.8 million tonnes. The government is yet to release its estimate for kharif foodgrain production in 2026-27.

 

Amid fears of El Nino strengthening in the remainder of 2026 and affecting rice production in rabi season as well, experts feel the government may reduce the diversion of FCI surplus rice for ethanol production and restrict exports of broken rice.  

 

From the 2026-27 kharif marketing season, the government has planned to improve the quality of rice distributed in welfare programmes by reducing the broken grain content to 10% from 25%. "Procurement of improved rice will commence from KMS 2026–27 and will be progressively expanded across procuring states," the government said in a release earlier. Some experts said the government is trying to improve the milling quality of rice amid public backlash over using the same quality of rice for ethanol production and welfare schemes. 

 

Following are the state-wise paddy procurement targets for the 2026-27 kharif marketing season (Oct-Sep) in million tonnes, compared with last year's procurement target and actual kharif paddy bought in 2025-26: 

 

States	2026-27 Kharif paddy purchase target	2025-26  Kharif paddy purchase target	% diff	206-27 procuremet period	2025-26 Kharif paddy procurement
Punjab	18.0	17.3	3.9	Oct.1-Nov.30	15.65
Chhattisgarh	10.9	10.9	0.1	Nov. 1-Jan. 31	14.10
Odisha	6.40	6.42	(0.3)	Nov. 1-Mar. 31	7.75
Uttar Pradesh	6.20	6.23	(0.5)	Oct. 1-Feb. 28	6.23
Haryana	5.80	5.96	(2.7)	Oct.1-Nov.15	6.21
Telangana	5.70	5.89	(3.3)	Oct.15-Jan.31	7.18
Madhya Pradesh	4.60	4.78	(3.7)	Nov. 1-Feb. 15	5.17
Bihar	3.50	3.73	(6.2)	Nov.1-Mar.31	3.68
Tamil Nadu	2.83	2.39	18.5	Sept.1-Mar.31	4.38
Andhra Pradesh	2.50	2.39	4.7	Oct.1-Mar.31	4.87
Total*	71.95	72.05	(0.1)		81.1

 

* Total will not tally due to the omission of states with smaller procurement targets. 

 

End

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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