Bhubaneswar: A total of 94,657 farmers have so far registered to sell paddy for Kharif 2026-27, with Baleshwar district recording the highest number of registrations, official sources said Monday.
This was revealed during an inter-ministerial committee meeting, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment (A&FE) Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, held here to ensure a smooth and transparent farmer registration process for the upcoming Kharif Paddy Procurement Season 2026-27.
According to key decisions and deliberations, AgriStack registration is currently not mandatory for farmers, ensuring that no farmer is deprived of the opportunity to sell their paddy. The registration window remains open until October.
AgriStack is an integrated farmer platform that consolidates farmer data, generating a unique Farmer ID upon registration to facilitate seamless access to government benefits. To date, around 6,00,000 farmers have registered on the platform.
“Similarly, special guidelines are being formulated for sharecroppers, with the government working actively to resolve potential challenges,” an official present at the meeting said.
A review of the 2025-26 Rabi season revealed that 20,46,185 metric tonnes of paddy were procured from 3,63,553 farmers — an increase compared with the 19,18,528 metric tonnes procured in the previous year (2024-25).
“As of today, `4,844 crore has been disbursed towards Minimum Support Price (MSP) and input assistance to 3,63,149 farmers for the Rabi season,” the official said.
The committee set a target of registering at least 50 per cent of farmers. To achieve this, the A&FE, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW), and Cooperation departments will coordinate closely at the administrative level, supported by the Revenue department, the official said, adding that registrations are currently being processed at the nearest PACS and CSCs.
“To date, 94,657 farmers have already registered to sell paddy for Kharif 2026-27. Baleshwar district recorded the highest number of such registrations,” he said.
The official said to prevent misinformation regarding registration and sale, awareness drives are being launched at the sub-division and Gram Panchayat levels. Village Agricultural Workers (VAWs) will assist farmers with their applications, and directives have been issued to ensure farmers receive a registration receipt upon applying.
“Now, two types of registration slips are provided to the farmers. One is for registration with AgriStack and another is without AgriStack registration. Both are valid,” the official pointed out.
The meeting was also attended by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, FS&CW Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik and Cooperation Minister Pradeep Bal Samanta.
Senior officers from the departments were also present at the meeting.