State Millet Mission - Uttarakhand

What is the State Millet Mission?

State Millet Mission is an agriculture scheme of the Government of Uttarakhand that sets out to bring the state's traditional coarse grains back into the field, the mandi and the kitchen. State Millet Mission was approved by the Uttarakhand cabinet on 16 February 2023 with an outlay of Rs 73 crore, split as Rs 53 crore to the Department of Agriculture and Rs 20 crore to cooperative societies. The mission works on both sides of the market at once: it assures farmers a purchase price for mandua, and it creates guaranteed demand by putting mandua into the public distribution system and jhangora into the midday meal.

The crops at the centre of the mission are mandua, finger millet, called koda or ragi elsewhere, and jhangora, barnyard millet. Both are Uttarakhand hill staples: hardy, rainfed, tolerant of poor soil and thin rainfall, and far richer in calcium, iron and fibre than the rice and wheat that displaced them. Area under both fell for decades because they fetched no reliable price. State Millet Mission attacks that specific failure by making the price certain.

Main features

• Cabinet approval on 16 February 2023 with an outlay of Rs 73 crore.
• Procurement of mandua from farmers through cooperative societies at a notified state support price, fixed at Rs 35.78 per kg at the time of approval.
• 1 kg of mandua for Rs 1 on Antyodaya ration cards, creating assured demand.
• Jhangora supplied through the midday meal programme.
• Aligned with the central Shri Anna Yojana push on nutri-cereals.

Who is eligible under the State Millet Mission?

You can benefit as a farmer if:

• You cultivate land in Uttarakhand and grow, or plan to grow, mandua, jhangora or another notified millet.
• Your block or district falls in the area taken up under the mission or the state millet policy in the current year.
• You register your sown area with the block agriculture office and sell through the designated cooperative society or procurement centre.

You can benefit as a consumer if:

• You hold an Antyodaya ration card in Uttarakhand, which entitles the household to mandua at the subsidised rate through the fair price shop.

You are not eligible and cannot claim if:

• You do not cultivate land in Uttarakhand, since procurement is for the state's own growers.
• You are a trader buying grain from farmers to resell at the procurement centre; the support price is meant for the cultivator, and procurement staff verify land records for this reason.
• Your grain does not meet the moisture and quality norms set for procurement, in which case the lot is rejected at the centre rather than bought at a lower price.
• Your block is not covered by procurement in the current season. Coverage has expanded in phases, so the district agriculture office is the place to confirm.

What does the mission offer and at what price?

The headline benefit is the assured purchase of mandua. At the February 2023 approval the state fixed the purchase rate at Rs 35.78 per kg, with cooperative societies acting as the buying agency, which works out to about Rs 3,578 per quintal. Uttarakhand reporting around the launch of the next phase in 2026 puts the minimum support price for mandua at Rs 3,500 per quintal. The two figures are close and both are in the same band, but they belong to different seasons, so the operative number for you is the rate notified for the current procurement season by the Department of Agriculture. Ask at the procurement centre before you carry your crop there.

On the input side, the state has worked on subsidised millet seed to raise the area sown, with an 80 per cent subsidy on millet seed reported as the government's working target under the millet policy. Seed distribution runs through the block agriculture office and the state seed agencies.

On the demand side, the mission does something most crop schemes do not: it buys the offtake. Mandua at Rs 1 per kg on Antyodaya ration cards and jhangora in the midday meal together create a steady institutional market, which is what gives the procurement price its durability. A support price without a buyer for the procured stock collapses in a season or two; this design avoids that.

Where is the mission being implemented?

The rollout after the 2023 cabinet approval named four districts, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Nainital. The state millet policy taken up from 2025-26 is described as being implemented across the state's 11 hill districts, with the first phase running from 2025 to 2028 and covering around 30,000 hectares across 24 development blocks, promoting mandua, jhangora, kauni (foxtail millet), ramdana (amaranth) and chena (proso millet).

Millet Mission 2.0 was launched on 18 April 2026, with the stated objective of raising the area under mandua and jhangora from about 1.2 lakh hectares to 2 lakh hectares by 2028.

What documents are required?

How to apply for benefits under the State Millet Mission

1. Visit the block or district agriculture office before sowing. Tell the agriculture officer or the village-level extension worker how much land you intend to put under mandua or jhangora, and ask to be recorded under the mission for the season.
2. Take the subsidised seed. Collect the millet seed supplied under the mission through the block office or the designated seed outlet, and keep the receipt.
3. Register with the cooperative society or procurement centre. Procurement of mandua runs through cooperative societies. Register your details, land record, Aadhaar and bank account, at the society that serves your area.
4. Bring the harvested crop to the procurement centre in the notified window. The centre weighs the grain, checks moisture and quality, and issues a receipt showing the quantity and rate.
5. Check the payment in your bank account. The purchase amount is paid by transfer against the procurement receipt, so verify the credit rather than waiting for a letter.
6. For the consumer benefit, take your Antyodaya ration card to your fair price shop and ask for mandua at the notified subsidised rate.

How do I check the status of my procurement payment?

Payment status is tracked at the cooperative society or procurement centre where you sold the grain, using the procurement receipt number. Keep the receipt; it is the only document tying your name, the weight delivered and the rate applied together. If the payment has not reached your account within the period the centre states, the district cooperative office and the district agriculture office are the two places to follow up.

Why do farmers miss out?

• Not registered before the season; procurement centres work from the registered list, and a walk-in with no record is hard to accommodate.
• Land record not in the seller's name, so the centre cannot confirm the seller is the cultivator.
• Grain moisture above the accepted limit, the commonest reason a lot is turned back at the gate; dry the crop properly before bringing it.
• Bank account not linked or inactive, which stalls payment after a successful sale.
• Selling outside the procurement window, after the season's centre has closed.

Help and information

• Block agriculture office / district agriculture officer, registration, seed and the first point for any mission query.
• District cooperative office and local cooperative society — procurement, receipts and payment.
• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Uttarakhand: agriculture.uk.gov.in carries scheme listings and the state millet policy documents.
• Fair price shop and district supply office, for the subsidised mandua entitlement on an Antyodaya ration card.

No fee is charged for registering under the mission or for selling at a procurement centre. Farmers should sell only at the notified centre against a receipt, since the receipt is what secures the support price.