Government Announces Annual Licensing Policy for Opium Poppy Cultivation for Crop Year 2025-26.

The Union Government (12–13 September 2025) unveiled the annual licensing policy for opium poppy cultivation for Crop Year 2025-26 (running from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026), expanding eligible farmers and tightening yield and quality controls in key states under the Ministry of Finance.

      - The policy applies to the three traditional opium-growing states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, and increases the number of farmers eligible for licences by about 23.5%, taking the total to approx 1.21 lakh (i.e. ~121,000) from about 1.06 lakh in the previous crop year.

      - Under the new policy, farmers who previously achieved or exceed a yield of 900 kg per hectare of unlanced poppy straw are offered incentives, including the option to switch to the traditional method of opium gum cultivation, which generally fetches higher returns and has higher demand for medical uses.

      - The policy also introduces stricter performance standards: farmers under the CPS scheme (Concentrated Poppy Straw) who failed to meet the Minimum Qualifying Yield (MQY) of 800 kg/ha in the previous year (2024-25) will have their licences suspended in 2025-26.

Main Point :-   (i) The licensing is administered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, with oversight by the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), and is linked with Government Opium & Alkaloid Factories (GOAF) to ensure supply of alkaloids (like morphine, codeine, thebaine) for medicinal and palliative care.

      (ii) To support quality and modern standards, the Government emphasizes incentives for “high-performing” farmers, modernization of processes, and ensuring that institutions like the Government Alkaloid Factory at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh maintain WHO Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification.

(iii) Apart from yield and licensing changes, there is digitisation of historical records since about 1995-96 to track cultivator performance, eligibility, and to prevent diversion or misuse; this is intended to benefit marginal farmers meeting criteria. The government has also continued to notify specific tracts (areas) where cultivation is permitted.