Gujarat’s Agriculture Department has pushed the last date for farmers to register for selling groundnut, moong, urad and soybean at the minimum support price (MSP) from October 9 to October 24. Agriculture Minister Jitubhai Vaghani announced the 15-day extension on October 4, ANI reported, after MPs, MLAs and farmer representatives asked for more time. On the same day the department opened the i-Khedut portal for Rabi season applications, with a window that closes on October 15.
Two deadlines, two different portals
Farmers now juggle two separate clocks. The MSP registration for the kharif crop runs through the Farmer Registry system, not i-Khedut. When the state opened registration on September 10, DeshGujarat reported that farmers could sign up free at e-Gram centres and common service centres with help from village computer entrepreneurs, or on their own through the gjfr.agristack.gov.in portal and the Farmer Registry Gujarat app.
The i-Khedut window is shorter and covers something else. It takes applications for certified seeds, seed mini kits and crop demonstration components for the coming Rabi season, according to the IANS report on the decision. A farmer who wants both benefits has 11 days left for the seed scheme and 19 for MSP registration, counting from October 5.
The prices at stake
The state is buying under the Centre’s PM-AASHA scheme at these 2026-27 support prices, per quintal:
- Groundnut: Rs 7,517
- Moong: Rs 8,780
- Urad: Rs 8,200
- Soybean: Rs 5,708
Groundnut carries the most weight for Gujarat. Saurashtra grows most of the state’s crop, and when mandi prices fall below the support price at harvest, government procurement sets the floor for lakhs of growers. Last year’s registration showed the scale: by mid-September 2025, about 8.79 lakh farmers had signed up to sell groundnut, against roughly 66,000 for soybean and a few thousand each for urad and moong, IANS reported at the time.
Why extensions keep coming
This is the second year running that the state has stretched the groundnut registration window. In 2025 it moved the deadline to September 22. That season also brought a new friction point. The state checked registrations against satellite imagery and digital crop surveys, and some farmers received SMS alerts saying their plots showed no groundnut. Officials then said that fewer than 10% of registered survey numbers had been flagged and that field staff would verify them before procurement.
This year the department has asked farmers to list every eligible land survey number in the Farmer Registry and to keep an active, Aadhaar-linked bank account, because the state pays for procured produce by direct benefit transfer. A missing survey number or a dormant account can hold up payment after the crop has already gone to the procurement centre.
What farmers should do now
- Check that every survey number you sow appears in your Farmer Registry entry before registering.
- Confirm with your bank that the account linked to Aadhaar is active.
- Apply on i-Khedut by October 15 if you want certified Rabi seed or mini kits; that window has not been extended.
- Finish MSP registration by October 24 at an e-Gram centre or on the Farmer Registry app.
The state has not yet announced when purchases will begin at procurement centres. The next things to watch are that date and the final count of registered farmers. A sharp rise over last year’s 8.79 lakh groundnut registrations would signal that open-market prices are running below Rs 7,517.
Sources: Asianet Newsable (ANI), IANS via SocialNews, DeshGujarat
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.