Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday announced a steep raise in procurement incentives for paddy and sugarcane farmers in the state.
The government made this decision despite the state's financial position being not good at present, he said.
"We have decided to increase the state incentive for paddy and sugarcane to an unprecedented level in the history of Tamil Nadu, considering that the welfare of the farmers who cultivate paddy and sugarcane, needs to be protected," Vijay said.
With the paddy procurement season beginning on September 1, along with the minimum support price, the state government's incentive will be increased to ₹289 per quintal for fine grade paddy variety and ₹159 per quintal for common grade paddy, with the procurement price at ₹2,750 and ₹2,600 per quintal, respectively.
Similarly, the incentive for sugarcane will be increased by ₹709 per tonne, taking the total procurement price to ₹4,000 per tonne, Vijay said making an announcement under Rule 110 in the Assembly.
"This is the first time in history that the state government has increased the incentive for paddy by more than ₹156 in a year," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"This is the first time in history that the state government has increased the incentive for paddy by more than ₹156 in a year," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The Centre has fixed ₹3,290.50 per metric tonne for farmers who register with the sugar mills and supply sugarcane in the 2025-26 milling year. The Tamil Nadu government will provide a special incentive of ₹709.5 per tonne.
In the last five years, the special incentive for sugarcane was increased by only ₹156 and now it has been hiked by ₹360.5 in the first year itself.
The chief minister assured that the state government will stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers in supporting their endeavours in agriculture and rural livelihood.
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