Opium farmers demand more licenses, ₹1 lakh/kg price
Opium farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh protested at Jantar Mantar on August 17, 2026, urging higher licenses and a ₹1,00,000 per kilogram procurement price. They also called for reinstatement of leases cancelled since 1990, a morphine yield basis, abolition of the CPS method,
Key takeaways
- On August 17, 2026, opium farmers protested at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi under a local farmers’ group.
- They urged the government to increase medicinal opium licenses and raise the procurement price to ₹1,00,000 per kilogram.
- They called for reinstating opium leases cancelled since 1990 and proposed a morphine yield benchmark of three kilograms per hectare.
- The farmers want the poppy straw excluded from NDPS Act status, oppose the CPS method, and seek a fixed purchase price of ₹2,000 per kilogram for straw.
- The 2025-26 policy had projected about 1.21 lakh eligible farmers in the involved states, a 23.5% rise from the previous year.
What Happened
Farmers representing opium cultivation interests from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh gathered at a protest meeting in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on August 17, 2026. They spoke under the banner of the Bharatiya Afeem Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. Ahead of the government’s forthcoming opium licensing policy for 2026-27, they pressed the Union Government to adjust policy in ways they argue would benefit the country and its farmers.
The farmers urged the government to increase the number of licenses issued for medicinal opium cultivation. They also demanded a hike in the government procurement price to ₹1,00,000 per kilogram for opium, arguing this aligns with international market levels. Additionally, they called for the reinstatement of opium leases that were cancelled since 1990 and asserted that cultivation has risen since 2008, supporting their case for expanded licensing.
Key technical and policy-related demands included linking license allocation to a morphine yield target of three kilograms per hectare, requesting exclusion of poppy straws from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act by arguing that straws are not narcotic but rather the husk of the plant. They also asked for the discontinuation of the Concentrate of Poppy Straw harvesting method, which the government has promoted since the 2021-22 crop year, and called for promotion of traditional opium cultivation. The farmers proposed that the government purchase poppy straws at ₹2,000 per kilogram to upgrade their quality through processing.
Among the broader context points cited, the group noted that the 2025-26 policy had estimated nearly 1.21 lakh farmers as eligible for licenses in the involved States, indicating a 23.5% rise from licenses issued in the previous crop year. The government had announced this policy in September 2025, with about 15,000 additional farmers expected to benefit that year. The government’s stated objective, as quoted by the policy, was to ensure adequate alkaloid supply for medical and palliative care needs while simultaneously expanding processing capacity to meet alkaloid requirements for essential narcotic drugs.
These protests arrive as the government prepares to unveil the 2026-27 licensing framework, with demonstrators framing their stance as a reform-oriented request aimed at expanding cultivation and improving farmers’ returns based on market-equivalent pricing and licensing rules.
Sources reviewed
Project Chintan independently synthesized and analyzed information cross-checked across the sources listed above.
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