Markfed and Civil Supplies told to buy only from land parcels tied to a Unique Farmer Number. 51.83 lakh IDs against a 64.71 lakh target.

Markfed and Civil Supplies have been told to buy only from land parcels tied to a Unique Farmer Number. Enrolment is not finished.

On Monday, 24 August 2026, the Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Department decided, at a review, to make the Farmer ID — the Unique Farmer Number — mandatory for farmers seeking to sell produce at government procurement centres ahead of the Kharif procurement season. Agriculture Director Manazir Jeelani Samoon said the Farmer ID had already been made mandatory under the crop insurance scheme and would shortly be required for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme as well. Given the significant Central share in crop procurement, he said, linking every land parcel to a valid Farmer ID would be essential. That is a review-meeting direction as reported. It is not a gazette text on this desk. This desk will not invent a start-date for the procurement gate beyond “ahead of the Kharif procurement season.”

Andhra Pradesh Markfed, which procures pulses such as green gram, black gram, red gram and chickpea, and the Civil Supplies Corporation, which procures paddy, have been directed to purchase produce only from land parcels linked to a valid Farmer ID. The gate is the land parcel, not a farmer’s name spoken at the counter. A Unique Farmer Number that is not tied to the parcel will not, on this direction, open the procurement window.

Against the State’s target of 64.71 lakh Farmer IDs, 51.83 lakh farmers have so far been registered. Those are the two figures on the card. This desk will not invent a remainder percentage, a district-wise shortfall table, or a caste-wise enrolment split that is not written there. Field-level officials were instructed to intensify awareness campaigns and facilitate registration of the remaining farmers. Instruction is not completion.

Samoon directed Common Service Centres to assist farmers in obtaining Farmer IDs, interacting virtually with Common Service Centre State Coordinator Ravi Kumar. Officials from Andhra Pradesh Markfed, the Civil Supplies Corporation, the Digital Agriculture Division, the Agriculture Ministry and Tata Consultancy Services, among others, attended. Attendance at a review is not a software-go-live certificate. This desk will not invent a portal downtime, a biometric failure rate, or a last date for enrolment that the Monday review did not lock.

What this card is not must be said. It is not a notified procurement price. It is not a Kharif arrival figure. It is not a claim that 64.71 lakh identities already exist. 51.83 lakh is the registered count. 64.71 lakh is the target. The gap is the remaining registration work. The gate is a policy direction at a Monday review, as reported.

Vijayawada holds the Agriculture Department review. Form B and any poll date are not notified.

Until a gazette or a procurement circular with a start-date is on the public record, the public ledger is a Monday review under Manazir Jeelani Samoon; a direction that Markfed pulses and Civil Supplies paddy will be bought only from land parcels linked to a valid Farmer ID; Farmer ID already mandatory for crop insurance and shortly for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, as he stated; 51.83 lakh registrations against a 64.71 lakh target; an instruction to field staff and to Common Service Centres, with Ravi Kumar on the virtual line; and attendance by Markfed, Civil Supplies, the Digital Agriculture Division, the Agriculture Ministry and Tata Consultancy Services. The Unique Farmer Number is being made the key to the procurement yard. The remaining identities are still to be written.