The Union Government announced the annual licensing policy for Opium Poppy cultivation for crop year 2025–26.

Key Features of the 2025–26 Licensing Policy

• Beneficiary: Nearly 1.21 lakh farmers will be eligible, marking a 23.5% increase (15,000 additional farmers) compared to the previous year.
• Digitisation of Records: Cultivators’ data since 1995–96 digitised; Enables marginal farmers who meet eligibility criteria to access licenses.

Significance of Opium Policy

• Healthcare Security: Meets rising demand for alkaloids used in pain management, anesthesia, and essential medicines.
• Farmer Inclusion: 1.21 lakh farmers benefit, with wider inclusion of marginal cultivators; Provides regulated livelihood to farmers in certain states.
• Export & Global Market: Strengthens India’s credibility as a regulated, WHO-certified supplier of alkaloid-based APIs.
• Risk Mitigation: Incentives + suspension mechanisms ensure productivity while preventing illegal diversion.
• Ensures availability of essential narcotic drugs for legitimate medical use.

About Opium Poppy

• Opium is a narcotic drug obtained by processing the dried latex extracted from the seed capsules of the opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum).
• Medicinal Importance:
  • Opium gum contains vital alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and thebaine.
  • Morphine: The most effective analgesic, used in cases of extreme pain, especially for terminally ill cancer patients.
  • Codeine: Widely used in the manufacture of cough syrups.

Opium Cultivation in India

• Unique Status: India is among the very few countries where opium poppy is legally cultivated, and it is the only country in the world that legally produces opium gum.
• Legal Framework: The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 empowers the Central Government to permit and regulate the cultivation of opium poppy strictly for medical and scientific purposes.
• Opium Policies: The government issues annual notifications, commonly called Opium Policies, specifying:
  • Notified tracts where cultivation is permitted.
  • General Conditions for the grant of licenses.
  • A Minimum Qualifying Yield (MQY) requirement for cultivators, which they must meet to remain eligible for licensing in subsequent years.
• Cultivation Zones: Legal cultivation is permitted in designated tracts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN):
  • The Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), headquartered in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, functions under the Narcotics Commissioner of India.
  • Licensing: CBN issues licenses to eligible farmers and strictly monitors cultivation.
  • Field Verification: Each cultivator’s field is individually measured by CBN officials to prevent cultivation beyond the licensed area.
  • Procurement: Farmers are required to tender their entire opium yield to the CBN at government-fixed prices.

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