Farmers payouts to reach 35k cr, says CM

Raipur: Chhattisgarh cabinet on Wednesday announced a major pre-Holi payout to paddy farmers, approving a one-time disbursal of around Rs 10,000 crore under the state's Krishak Unnati Yojana. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai at the Secretariat in Raipur.The cabinet decided that farmers who sold paddy to the state at MSP would be paid the "difference amount" to bring the effective rate to Rs 3,100 per quintal and that the payment would be made in one instalment before Holi.As per the statement, during the Kharif marketing year 2025–26, the state procured 141.04 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 25,24,339 farmers. The govt said it would pay nearly Rs 10,000 crore before Holi as the differential amount under Krishak Unnati Yojana.The govt also claimed Chhattisgarh is buying up to 21 quintals of paddy per acre at the Rs 3,100-per-quintal rate, describing it as the highest in the country. Over the past two years, it said, more than Rs 25,000 crore has already been paid to farmers as the price-difference component under the scheme, and the pre-Holi disbursal this year would take the cumulative payout to about Rs 35,000 crore.