The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare announced on Tuesday that paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 session showed an increase of 24.98 per cent with purchase of over 506.33 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy up to January 4 against 405.10 LMT last year.
In the ongoing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21, the government continues to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers as per existing MSP schemes.
"This is an increase of 24.98 per cent against the last year corresponding purchase of 405.10 LMT. Out of the total purchase of 506.33 LMT, Punjab alone has contributed 202.77 LMTs which is 40.04 per cent of total procurement," the Ministry said.
"Paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 is continuing smoothly in the procuring States and Union Territories (UTs) of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pardesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Karnataka and West Bengal with purchase of over 506.33 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy up to January 4, 2021," the Ministry said.
About 65.32 Lac farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing KMS procurement Operations with MSP value of Rs 95596.84 crore.
Further, based on the proposal from the States, approval was accorded for procurement of 51.66 LMT of pulse and oilseeds of Kharif Marketing Season 2020, for the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh under Price Support Scheme (PSS).
Upto January 4, 2021, the Government through its Nodal Agencies has procured 270579.82 metric tonnes (MT) of moong, urad, groundnut pods and soyabean having MSP value of Rs 1447.54 crores benefitting 144,969 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Similarly, 5,089 MT of copra (the perennial crop) having MSP value of Rs 52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3,961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu upto January 4, 2021 as against the last year corresponding purchase of 293.34 MT of copra. In respect of copra and urad, rates are ruling above MSP in most of the major producing States.
The respective State/UTs Governments are making necessary arrangements for the commencement of procurement from the date as decided by the respective States based on the arrivals in respect of Kharif pulses and oilseeds.
( With inputs from ANI )
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