RAIPUR: Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai’s government is preparing to launch its statewide mega-procurement drive on November 15, coinciding with Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas.
In a calculated policy manoeuvre that political observers view as an early salvo for the 2028 Assembly elections, the Sai cabinet has decided to disburse a flat input assistance of Rs 13,839 per acre even to farmers whose harvest falls short of the 21-quintal-per-acre procurement ceiling.
The timing of the announcement—just ahead of BJP National President Nitin Nabin’s high-profile visit to Dharamjaigarh (Raigarh district) for the November 15 tribal pride celebrations—underscores its political weight.
By decoupling the full bonus benefit from actual yield volume, the ruling BJP aims to neutralise Congress’s traditional rural plank while delivering direct financial relief to over 27.5 lakh registered farmer families, particularly small and marginal cultivators in tribal-dominated Bastar and Surguja regions where per-acre productivity is lower.
Previously, farmers suffering low yields were forced to buy paddy from middlemen and rice millers at Rs 2,100 to Rs 2,400 per quintal just to fill their 21-quintal quota and claim the full state bonus.
After factoring in transport and ancillary costs, farmers were left with a meagre Rs 400 to Rs 500 margin while brokers pocketed the lion's share.
Under the revised mechanism, the state will transfer the input assistance directly into farmers' bank accounts based on verified cultivated area—eliminating the compulsion to arrange extra grain and choking off illegal paddy inflow.
Backed by an administrative push led by CM Sai, Agriculture Minister Ramvichar Netam, and Agriculture Production Commissioner Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi, the state has finalised logistical and digital upgrades for the 2026–27 Kharif marketing season.
Purchases will run at Rs 3,100 per quintal (up to 21 quintals per acre) across 3,100 procurement centres, including 360 newly opened centres designed to cut travel time and congestion.
Farmers registered last year with an AgriStack ID require no fresh registration. The mandatory submission of loan passbooks at cooperative societies has been scrapped, replaced by digital crop surveys and biometric authentication to ensure airtight transparency.
Over the past three marketing years (2023–26), the state procured roughly 437 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, disbursing nearly Rs 1.50 lakh crore to farmers.
The policy shift has triggered an immediate war of words between the ruling party and the opposition. Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel dismissed the Rs 13,839 per-acre input assistance as a mere extension of his previous Congress government's flagship scheme.
Demanding a White Paper on procurement readiness, gunny bag (bardana) availability, storage, payments, and rice lifting, Baghel also alleged that the ongoing patwari strike has derailed farmer registrations and crop damage surveys.
Hitting back sharply, Forest Minister Kedar Kashyap accused the Congress of playing petty politics over agrarian welfare while failing to honour its own past promises.
Kashyap asserted that the Rs 13,839 guaranteed aid would be a game-changer for low-yield tribal belts in Bastar and Surguja, leaving the opposition rattled as its core electoral narrative slips away.