The Food Corporation of India and state procurement agencies have bought 26 per cent more paddy so far in this year's kharif marketing season at 170.53 lakh tonne for Rs 32,196 crore. Paddy procurement for kharif 2020-21 is continuing at a good pace in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala and Gujarat with purchase of over 170.53 lakh tonne of paddy till Tuesday against 134.85 lakh tonne in the same period last year.
Out of the total purchase, Punjab alone has contributed 114.97 lakh tonne, which is around 67 per cent of the total procurement. "About 14.37 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing KMS procurement Operations with MSP value of Rs 32,195.69 crore," an official statement said. Procurement operations of seed cotton (kapas) under MSP are going on smoothly in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Till October 27, total 4,42,266 cotton bales valuing Rs 1,299.51 crore have been procured, benefitting 84,138 farmers, it said.
Oilseeds, pulses and copra are also being purchased.