Govt procures paddy worth Rs 81,400 crore; purchase in volume terms up 23%

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The Union government on December 23 announced that paddy procurement increased by 23 percent in the ongoing Kharif marketing season to 431.14 lakh tonne, valued at Rs 81,399.80 crore.

The government has procured paddy from states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar, an official statement by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said. The paddy has been procured at Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Paddy procurement up 21% at 375.72 lakh tonnes so far; valued at nearly Rs 71,000 crore

The latest procurement is 23 percent higher than in 2019, when 350.04 LMT of paddy was procured. About 51.90 lakh farmers have already been benefited from the ongoing procurement operations.

"Out of the total purchase of 431.14 LMT, Punjab alone has purchased 202.77 LMT till the close of procurement season in the state on 30.11.2020 which is 47.03 percent of total procurement in the country," the statement added.

The ministry said Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have purchased 431.14 lakh tonne of paddy up to December 22 against 350.04 lakh tonne on a year-on-year basis.

Apart from this, the government added that by December 22, 62,95,350 seed cotton (kapas) bales valued at Rs 18,415.48 crore have been procured, benefiting 12,20,588 farmers. They have been procured from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka.

Also, nodal agencies like FCI and others have procured 217449.62 MT of moong, urad, groundnut pods and soybean having an MSP value of Rs 1164.71 crore, benefiting 1,18,600 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan.