Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Coimbatore on Wednesday (November 19, 2025), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has listed out three demands on behalf of the farmers in the State. An official release from the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday (November 18, 2025) said the Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on Monday.
In a social media post, Mr. Stalin, noting Tamil Nadu has recorded a “bumper harvest” this year and in view of the Northeast monsoon, said he was making urgent requests to Mr. Modi. “I hope you will consider them favourably ahead of your visit to Coimbatore.”
He requested for necessary orders to allow Tamil Nadu to revise the target of 16 lakh MT of rice for current kharif 2025-2026 season to the actual production and procurement levels for the (kharif) season.
Referring to the recent visit of central teams, he said orders have not yet been issued by the Government of India for relaxing the moisture content from 17% to 22%. “This needs to be done urgently,” Mr. Stalin stressed. The Chief Minister said the existing packing size of 25 kg of fortified rice kernels may be permitted to be increased to 50 kg, and the sample lot size may be increased from 10 MT to 25 MT.
The official release said the paddy production during the kharif season this year stood at 14.11 lakh MT as of November 16, 2025, recording an increase from 4.81 lakh MT during 2024-25. As on November 16 this year, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation has procured 14.11 lakh MT from 1.86 lakh farmers through 1,932 direct paddy procurement centres at ₹3,559 crore.
Though a proposal was made in August this year to increase the target for procurement for current kharif season to 20 lakh MT, the Union government has fixed the target as 16 lakh MT for kharif season 2025-26 till March 31, 2026. The Chief Minister, in his letter requested to increase it to 20 lakh MT.
Published – November 18, 2025 03:13 pm IST
