Nepal Paddy MSP (Dhaan ko Samarthan Mulya): Current & Past Rates

Nepal's Council of Ministers (Cabinet) fixed the minimum support price (MSP) — nyunatam samarthan mulya — for the main monsoon paddy crop of fiscal year 2083/84 BS (2026-27 AD) at its meeting in late May 2026 (Jestha 2083). Coarse or short-grain paddy (mota dhaan) was set at NPR 3,660 per quintal and medium-grade paddy at NPR 3,860 per quintal, increases of roughly Rs 197 and Rs 232 over the previous year, or about 5.7 and 6.4 percent. In per-kilogram terms, that works out to about Rs 36.60/kg for coarse and Rs 38.60/kg for medium paddy.

The MSP is the floor price at which the state guarantees to buy paddy so that farmers are not forced into distress sales when market prices crash at harvest. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD), the rate is computed from the cost of production plus transportation charges and inflation. Notably, the government fixes support prices only for coarse and medium grades; fine (masino) and aromatic paddy varieties have no official MSP, and prices for long-grain and local varieties at government purchase points are settled by district-level primary purchase committees coordinated by Chief District Officers.

The 2026 announcement came before transplantation began — a deliberate shift. Under a new directive on support prices, the government now aims to declare the samarthan mulya before sowing so farmers can decide what to plant based on assured returns, instead of learning the price months after the crop is already in the ground.

Over the last seven announced seasons, the MSP for coarse paddy has risen from NPR 2,735 to NPR 3,660 per quintal — an increase of roughly 34 percent — while medium paddy has climbed from NPR 2,885 to NPR 3,860. The pace has been uneven: the 2021-22 revision added a token Rs 17 per quintal (about 0.6 percent), and the 2025-26 revision only 1.3-1.6 percent, while the 2022-23, 2024-25 and 2026-27 revisions each added roughly 6-8 percent.

The verified year-by-year series for the main (monsoon) crop, in NPR per quintal, is listed below. Fiscal years follow the Bikram Sambat calendar (mid-July to mid-July); the harvest marketed in a given fiscal year is shown in AD. Figures come from Cabinet decisions reported by MOALD and Nepali media; paise-level precision reflects the cost-based formula used since 2024.

Chaite dhaan is the pre-monsoon or spring paddy crop, transplanted around the Nepali month of Chait (March-April) in irrigated pockets of the Tarai and harvested in Asar-Saun (June-July), just as the main-season crop is being planted. Because it reaches the market at a different time and with different moisture conditions than the main crop, the government fixes a separate, lower samarthan mulya for it.

For the 2025 spring crop, the Cabinet fixed the Chaite paddy MSP at NPR 2,869 per quintal for paddy with moisture content up to 18 percent, announced on 7 March 2025. For the 2026 season, a Cabinet decision of 6 April 2026 set the rate marginally lower, at NPR 2,866.41 per quintal (about Rs 28.66/kg), again for paddy with up to 18 percent moisture — a reminder that the formula is recalculated from production costs each year rather than automatically increased.

The comparatively generous 18 percent moisture allowance reflects the fact that Chaite paddy is harvested at the onset of the monsoon, when sun-drying is difficult. Because the Food Management and Trading Company's procurement drive is geared to the main autumn harvest, the agriculture ministry has repeatedly issued circulars urging the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, rice-mill owners and the Nepal Rice, Oil and Pulses Producers' Association to actually pay the Chaite floor price.

The price-fixing pipeline runs through the federal agriculture ministry — the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD), whose functions passed to the merged Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment after the 2025-26 government restructuring. Technical teams estimate the per-quintal cost of production from field surveys of seed, fertiliser, labour and machinery costs, then add transportation charges and inflation. The recommendation is coordinated with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, which oversees the procurement agency, and the final rate is approved by the Cabinet and published as an official notice.

The legal anchor is the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act, 2075 BS (2018), which obliges the state to protect farmers' returns. Acting under Section 47(1) of that Act, the government approved the Guidelines on Determination of Minimum Support Price and Minimum Purchase Price, 2082 in Baisakh 2083 (late April-early May 2026). The guidelines require MSPs for major crops — paddy (main and Chaite), maize, wheat, millet and sugarcane — to be published before sowing begins, and introduce a companion 'minimum purchase price' concept for procurement.

Timing has historically been the weakest link. Nepal announced support prices regularly until around 1999, abandoned the practice during the market-oriented Agriculture Perspective Plan era, and revived it in 2012 (FY 2069/70) after complaints that middlemen were squeezing growers. Even after 2012, announcements often came in November — during or after harvest, as in FY 2021/22 — when traders had already set farm-gate prices. Since FY 2080/81 (2023-24) the price has been declared at or before transplantation, and the 2026-27 rate was out before most fields were planted.

The Food Management and Trading Company Limited (FMTC, Khadya Byabastha tatha Byapar Company) is the government's procurement arm for MSP paddy. It was created by merging two old state enterprises — the Nepal Food Corporation (established 2021 BS/1964-65) and National Trading Limited (established 2018 BS/1961-62) — and was registered at the Office of the Company Registrar on 28 Shrawan 2076 BS (August 2019). The company operates under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, running food depots across the country, maintaining national food-security stocks and supplying subsidised food grain to remote hill and mountain districts.

Each autumn, FMTC opens paddy purchases at the Cabinet-fixed MSP through around a dozen designated centres in the Tarai grain belt and selected hubs — locations reported in recent seasons include Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi, Rajapur (Bardiya), Nepalgunj, Tulsipur, Bhairahawa, Pokhara, Birgunj, Janakpur, Lahan, Biratnagar, Birtamod and Jumla. Paddy is quality-tested and weighed at the depot, and payment is deposited directly into the farmer's bank account.

The scale, however, is small. For the 2024-25 harvest (FY 2081/82) FMTC targeted purchases of 73,620 tonnes with a budget of about Rs 2.65 billion — roughly 1.2 percent of that year's record national paddy output of about 5.95 million tonnes grown on 1.42 million hectares. Everything else moves through private traders and mills, who are urged, but not effectively compelled, to honour the floor price.

The gap between the announced samarthan mulya and what farmers actually receive is the recurring story of every harvest. In December 2025, farmers in Kailali reported selling paddy to traders at around Rs 23 per kg while the official coarse-paddy MSP stood at Rs 34.63 per kg — a shortfall of roughly a third. FMTC's district quotas had been slashed that season, from 55,000 to 35,000 quintals in Kailali and from 15,000 to 5,000 quintals in Kanchanpur, and were exhausted within about two weeks of purchases opening. Kailali alone produced 308,434 tonnes of paddy that year; FMTC bought 38,948 quintals — barely 1.3 percent of the district's crop.

Even farmers who reach a depot in time face hurdles. They bear the transport cost to distant purchase centres, risk rejection if staff judge the paddy insufficiently dry or clean, and complain of slow payment. Farmers and local officials also allege arbitrage: traders buying paddy cheaply at the farm gate and reselling it to the state company at the support price. Because fine and aromatic varieties carry no MSP at all, growers of higher-value paddy have no floor to invoke.

The net effect is that the MSP functions less as a guaranteed price and more as a reference benchmark that market prices persistently undercut. Economists, parliamentarians and farmer groups have repeatedly called for a bigger procurement budget, more purchase centres, involvement of provinces and cooperatives, and penalties for millers who buy below the floor — reforms the 2082 BS guidelines gesture toward but do not yet fund.

Farmers who want the official price must move quickly and prepare the crop to standard. The window is short: purchases typically open after the main harvest (post-Tihar, around November) and district quotas in recent years have been filled within two to three weeks. Procedures vary by depot and season, so the company's notices — published on fmtc.org.np and through district depots — are the authoritative word each year.

Based on how procurement has run in recent seasons, the practical checklist below reflects what depots have required. Treat it as indicative rather than exhaustive, and confirm details with the nearest FMTC office before hauling grain.