Kodagu Deputy Commissioner (DC) Venkat Raja, while presiding over the Task Force Committee meeting held under the Minimum Support Price Scheme for the year 2025-26 at his office in Madikeri, informed that paddy and ragi are being procured in the district under the government’s support price programme. DC also said that the process of registering farmers’ names has already begun and urged farmers in the district to take full advantage of this scheme.
He stated that, as per the orders of the Central Government, paddy and ragi are being purchased from farmers under the Minimum Support Price Scheme for the year 2025-26 and appealed to farmers to make use of this opportunity.
The Deputy Commissioner explained that Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited has been appointed as the purchasing agency, and the procurement process is being implemented through them. To facilitate farmers across the district, purchase centres have been opened at five locations – the APMC premises in Madikeri, Kushalnagar, Gonikoppa, and Somwarpet, and the Taluk Agriculture Department office in Virajpet town. Farmers can bring their produce to these registration centres.
If any technical problems occur during registration, they should be resolved immediately, and farmers should be informed accordingly.
The amount for paddy and ragi purchased at the centres will be directly deposited into the farmers’ bank accounts. Farmers must provide their NPCI-linked bank account details connected to their FRUITS ID and Aadhaar number at the registration centre.
The DC directed the purchasing agencies to provide information about paddy registration to farmers and local leaders and to spread awareness through farmer contact centres in rural areas about registration and purchase centre details.
Speaking on the occasion, Joint Director of the Food Department, Manteswamy, informed that the procurement process would begin soon. The support price has been fixed at Rs. 2,369 per quintal for paddy and Rs. 4,886 per quintal for ragi. Farmers intending to sell paddy should already be registered in the FRUITS system.
Those who are not registered may do so and sell their produce at the procurement centres. He added that the government intends to supply nutritionally enriched rice to beneficiaries, and therefore rice mill owners must implement the blending mission during hulling. Rice mills that have not implemented this mission will not be permitted to participate in the hulling process as per government orders.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Director of Agriculture Department D. S. Somashekar, Assistant Director of Agricultural Produce Marketing Department Hampanna, District Manager of the Food Corporation Kiran, Manager of Karnataka State Warehousing Corporation H. M. Naganayake, APMC Secretary Anil, Food Inspectors Yashaswini, Swathi, Veena, and P. R. Neenakumari, and Inspectors of the Legal Metrology Department Narendra, Michael, and Kiran, among others.
