On Friday, August 29, the State Food and Civil Supplies Minister R Sakkarapani said that the Tamil Nadu Farmers will get benefits as the government sets the Paddy Procurement Price at ₹2,545/Quintal for the Kharif season. He added that the action follows an official order from Chief Minister M K Stalin to procure paddy from September 1 for the procurement season 2025-26 at ₹2,545 per quintal for Grade ‘A’ paddy and ₹2,500 per quintal of common paddy variety.
In a statement, he said: “This (amount) contains the state government incentive of ₹156 and ₹131 per quintal for respective varieties of paddy. I am proud to declare that we have fulfilled the promise made in the DMK election manifesto (in 2021) that we will offer ₹2,500 per quintal of paddy”. The price of ₹2,545 for Grade ‘A’ carries the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹2,389 fixed by the Union government for Kharif Marketing Season and an MSP of ₹2,500 for the common variety. Additionally, a total of 1.85 crore metric tons of paddy have been procured so far during the 51-month rule of Stalin. Around ₹44,777.83 crore has been provided to the Tamil Nadu farmers through Paddy procurement efforts, of which Rs 2,031.29 crore has been provided as an incentive by the state government. Sakkarapani cited that not a single grain of rice should go to waste, saying that the Chief Minister instructed to construct the modern rice storage facilities to store rice without keeping it in the open. Moreover, appropriate funds have been allocated for the purpose. Lastly, he stated that district collectors have been directed to open paddy procurement centres at the required places as soon as possible.