Andhra Pradesh has asked the Central government to approve 100% procurement of the state's estimated production of nine Kharif 2026 crops, including four important millet crops, as part of efforts to protect farmers from distress sales.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu submitted the request to Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during their meeting in Vijayawada.

The proposal seeks advance permission for AP MARKFED to procure the entire estimated production under the PM-AASHA scheme.

The nine crops identified in the request are red gram, green gram, black gram, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, foxtail millet and groundnut. For the millet sector, the inclusion of sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet and foxtail millet makes the procurement request particularly significant.

The move follows recent efforts by Andhra Pradesh to encourage cultivation of millets and other rainfed crops. In September, the state outlined plans to bring 8.61 lakh hectares of uncultivated land under rainfed crops, with ragi, foxtail millet, jowar and bajra among those specifically identified.

That programme also emphasised market-linked cultivation, MSP implementation and government intervention where necessary. The latest request moves the focus from encouraging production toward providing farmers with a potential procurement mechanism for their harvest.

The issue is relevant because procurement availability can influence whether farmers actually receive the intended benefits of MSP-supported production. Earlier Central data showed uneven coarse-grain procurement across Andhra Pradesh, with jowar and ragi purchases concentrated in selected districts and no coarse-grain procurement reported from Konaseema for the periods examined.

If approved and implemented as requested, the procurement proposal could provide a stronger market safeguard for Andhra Pradesh farmers cultivating jowar, bajra, ragi and foxtail millet during the Kharif season.