Factors that contributed to an increase in paddy procurement this year include better availability of groundwater and the free electricity for the farm sector.
| Photo Credit: M. PERIASAMY
Tamil Nadu is all set to create a record in paddy procurement, as it is going to touch the 45-lakh-tonne mark soon.
As of now, 44.49 lakh tonnes have been procured. As on date, the record in procurement was 44.95 lakh tonnes during 2020-21. With the State procuring an average of about 15,000 tonnes from farmers on a daily basis, the current high will be crossed in a few days. With about a month to go for the completion of the current procurement year, the overall figure may be eventually 47 lakh tonnes. In fact, the present DMK regime, during 2021-22, had fixed a target of 50 lakh tonnes but this could not be achieved then.
As in the past, 10 districts falling under the Cauvery delta have contributed nearly two-thirds of the overall procurement with about 30 lakh tonnes. In the form of minimum support price, around ₹10,734 crore has been paid to farmers. According to data available with the Central authorities, around 3.36 lakh farmers received the payment of ₹6,899 crore during the first round (from September 2024 to March 2025) and about 1.95 lakh farmers, ₹3,835 crore subsequently.
In addition, the State government has been providing ₹130 and ₹105 per quintal for Grade A and common varieties respectively to the farmers. A perusal of data from different sources reveals a considerable section of farmers raised paddy even after the end of the irrigation season or during summer.
Paddy procurement in the last 5 years (in lakh tonnes)
| Year | Cauvery delta | Non-Cauvery delta | Total |
| 2020-21 | 30.93 | 14.02 | 44.95 |
| 2021-22 | 29.37 | 13.91 | 43.28 |
| 2022-23 | 29.84 | 14.38 | 44.22 |
| 2023-24 | 25.52 | 9.44 | 34.96 |
| 2024-25* | 29 | 15.49 | 44.49 |
Till the end of March 2025, only about 28.3 lakh tonnes were procured. The remaining 16 lakh tonnes have been obtained in the last three and a half months. Factors that contributed to this development include better availability of groundwater this time and the free electricity scheme for farmers.
Most of the procurement is done by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation with cooperatives and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) doing the residual portion. There have been suggestions from experts that Farmer Producers Organisations (FPO) be involved in the procurement.
Published – July 29, 2025 12:43 am IST