Bhubaneswar, Oct 10: The Odisha Cabinet today approved the Food and Paddy Procurement Policy for the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2025–26, to regulate all aspects of paddy and rice procurement for the upcoming season.
Procurement schedule
The Kharif Marketing Season 2025–26 will officially commence on October 1, 2025, and continue until September 30, 2026. Paddy will be procured separately during the Kharif and Rabi seasons within this period.
Procurement of Kharif paddy is scheduled to take place between November 2025 and March 2026, while Rabi paddy will be procured subsequently within the same marketing season.
Procurement targets
For KMS 2025–26, the State Government has set a tentative procurement target of 63 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice, which translates to approximately 93 LMT of paddy. Out of this, around 73 LMT of paddy is expected to be procured from the Kharif season, and 20 LMT from the Rabi season.
However, the government has assured that if more paddy arrives at the mandis from registered farmers, it will also be procured without imposing any artificial ceiling.
Procurement mechanism
Paddy will be procured directly from registered farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) declared by the Government of India. The procurement process aims to ensure transparency and prevent exploitation of farmers by intermediaries.
The Custom Millers engaged by the State will mill the procured paddy into rice. The resultant rice will primarily be used to meet the requirements of the State’s Public Distribution System (PDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS), and other welfare programmes.
Any surplus rice remaining after fulfilling the State’s internal needs will be delivered to the Central Pool through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for use in deficit states.
Policy oversight and review
To ensure smooth implementation, a Cabinet Sub-Committee/Group of Ministers/Inter-Ministerial Committee will continuously review the progress of the procurement operations. The committee will also be empowered to modify procurement targets or make necessary policy adjustments based on field realities and feedback from stakeholders.
Tags: prameyanews
