New Delhi, September 12 (HS): The central government on Friday announced its annual licensing policy for opium poppy cultivation for the crop year 2025-26 in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Under the new framework, the number of licensed cultivators has been raised by 23.5%, adding nearly 15,000 new farmers compared to the previous year. In total, about 1.21 lakh farmers are expected to be granted licenses this season.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the move aims to ensure adequate supply of alkaloids to meet medical needs while supporting India’s pharmaceutical sector. The policy specifies that existing gum opium cultivators will retain their licenses only if they achieved an average morphine yield (MQY-M) of at least 4.2 kilograms per hectare in the previous crop year. The official opium crop cycle will run from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026.

For Concentrated Poppy Straw (CPS) cultivation, the Ministry further clarified that licenses for 2025-26 will be suspended for farmers who failed to meet the minimum qualifying yield of 800 kilograms per hectare during the 2024-25 season.

The government highlighted that the licensing policy seeks to balance self-sufficiency for state-run alkaloid extraction units while ensuring a reliable supply of Alkaloid APIs and formulations for the domestic pharmaceutical industry. Officials noted that this effort aligns with the government’s broader “Make for World” vision to expand India’s role in global medicine supply chains.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar