How Solar-Powered Rice Mills Are Helping Farmers Increase Rice Recovery by 30% & Double Their Income

Small-scale farmers like Gopi in Tamil Nadu often faced steep losses during paddy processing—turning 500 kg of paddy into only 275–300 kg of rice—due to inefficient diesel-powered mills. Enter SEMA Alto (“Solar‑powered Efficient Machinery for Agriculture”), a Bengaluru-based startup founded in 2017 by Assad Jaffer and Dania Athar. They crafted a compact, modular, and affordable solar-compatible rice mill tailored for rural villages. With over 150 units installed across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, these mills enable farmers to process fresh paddy locally on demand, reducing transport, income losses, and dependency on intermediaries. The mills are energy-efficient and engineered for high yield: a pre-cleaner, de-stoner, triple-roller sheller, separators, polishers, and graders—arranged in a gravity-fed (“waterfall”) layout—boost head‑rice recovery to approximately 65%, compared to the usual 25–40% from conventional mills. For Gopi, this means 320–350 kg of rice from 500 kg paddy—about a 30% recovery improvement—and enables him to earn Rs 80–100 per kg instead of Rs 45–50 for raw paddy—effectively doubling his income. Scaling this innovation was enabled by CEEW’s “Powering Livelihoods” initiative, which facilitated financing, awareness campaigns, local demonstrations, and advocacy for inclusion in the national PM‑FME scheme—opening doors to subsidies and institutional support.

Cabinet approves Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2025-26

On 28 May 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, approved an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 Kharif crops for the Marketing Season 2025–26. This decision aims to ensure that farmers receive remunerative, fair pricing for their produce. Among the crops, the greatest absolute MSP increases were recommended for nigerseed (+₹820/quintal), ragi (+₹596/quintal), cotton (+₹589/quintal), and sesamum (+₹579/quintal). The MSP hike aligns with the Union Budget 2018–19 announcement of setting MSP at least 1.5 times the all‑India weighted average cost of production, reinforcing income security and risk coverage for farmers across the country.