Paddy procurement for Kharif marketing season 2022-23 (October-September) is progressing smoothly in 13 States/Union Territories -- Punjab, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, J-K, Kerala, Telangana, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu with purchase of over 231 lakh tonne.
The above-mentioned procurement data is upto Thursday, against the previous year corresponding paddy purchase of about 228 lakh MT.
Over 13.50 Lakh farmers have already benefited from the ongoing procurement operations with an MSP value of Rs 47,644 crore, a statement from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said on Friday.
This year's rainfall condition has been fairly good in the country, and paddy production is expected to remain "normal", the ministry argued in the statement.
For the Kharif crop of the current marketing season 2022-23, a quantity of 771 lakh tonne Paddy (518 lakh tonne in terms of Rice) has been estimated to be procured as against 759 LMT paddy (510 lakh tonne in terms of Rice) actually procured during 2021-22 (Kharif Crop).
With the inclusion of Rabi paddy, it is expected that around 900 lakh tonne paddy will be procured during the entire Kharif marketing season 2022-23.
The statement added there is a "sufficient stock" of food grains available under the Central Pool to meet the requirement of NFSA/ PMGKAY/ OWS schemes.
"Procurement in other States is also going to commence soon and all arrangements are in place for hassle-free procurement operations," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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