The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare announced on Thursday that paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 session showed an increase of 23.67 per cent with purchase of over 436.20 lakh metric tonnes of paddy up to December 23, 2020 against 352.70 LMT last year.
As per government report, the paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 has progressed smoothly in the procuring States and Union Territories including Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Chandigarh, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Out of the total purchase of 436.20 LMT, Punjab alone has purchased 202.77 LMT till the closure of procurement season in the state on November 30, amounting to 46.48 per cent of the total procurement in the country.
According to the issued data, about 52.74 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing procurement operations with minimum support price (MSP) value of Rs 82,356.16 crores.
The ministry said the approval for procurement of 51.66 LMT of pulse and oilseeds of KMS 2020 for the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh under Price Support Scheme (PSS) has been accorded.
The procurement of 1.23 LMT of Copra (the perennial crop) for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala was sanctioned.
"For other states/UTs, approval will also be accorded on receipt of proposals for the procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra under PSS so that procurement of FAQ grade of these crops can be made at notified MSP for the year 2020-21 directly from the registered farmers, if the market rate goes below MSP during the notified harvesting period in the respective states/UTs by the Central Nodal Agencies through state nominated procuring agencies," the press release read.
Government through its nodal agencies has procured 2,23,594.64 MT of moong, urad, groundnut pods and soybean having MSP value of Rs 1197.40 crores till December 23 benefitting 1,21,655 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan.
"5089 MT of copra (the perennial crop) having MSP value of Rs 52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu till December 23 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."
When it comes to procurement operations of seed cotton (Kapas) under MSP till December 23, a quantity of 65,10,294 cotton bales valuing Rs 19,048.87 crore has been procured benefitting 1266004 farmers in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka.
( With inputs from ANI )
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