Indicating its proactiveness in procuring food grains, the Centre on Monday said that it has approved the procurement of 13.77 lakh tonnes of pulses and oilseeds from five States — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana and Maharashtra — during the onging kharif season.
This is based on proposals received from these five States, according to an official statement. For other States and Union Territories, the nod will be given if proposals are received and procurement will be made as per the Price Support Scheme (PSS), if the market prices fall below the minimum support prices (MSP), it said.
The procurement of paddy has already commenced in Haryana and Punjab on Saturday. Till Sunday, agencies procured 5,637 tonnes of paddy for ₹10.64 crore from 390 farmers in these States. The procurement commenced in other States from Monday.
The government, through its nodal agencies, had procured 5,089 tonnes of copra worth ₹52.4 crore from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu till September 24 against the sanctioned quantity of 95.75 lakh tonnes from four South Indian States, including Andhra Pradesh and Kerala apart from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The procurement of cotton for the season will commence from October 1.