The government on Tuesday said it has procured 19 per cent more paddy during the current kharif marketing season so far at 318 lakh tonnes for over Rs 60,000 crore.
About 43 lakh tonne of kharif paddy worth Rs 8,033 crore was purchased at the minimum support price (MSP) from 3.57 lakh farmers in the last 16 days, the food ministry said on Monday. Paddy procurement commenced in Punjab and Haryana from September 26 due to early arrival of the crop, while in other states it began from October 1. More than 80 per cent of the country's paddy crop is grown in the kharif season. The government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies undertakes procurement of paddy at MSP. "Paddy procurement in the 2020-21 kharif marketing season is going on smoothly in the procuring states with purchase of about 42.55 lakh tonne of paddy up to October 11 from over 3.57 lakh farmers with MSP value of Rs 8,032.62 crore," the ministry said in a statement. For the current year, the centre has fixed MSP of paddy (common grade) at Rs 1,868 per quintal, while that of A grade variety has been fixed at Rs 1,888 per quintal. In case of cotton, state-own
Maximum procurement has happened in Punjab where 7,82,685 MT paddy has already been procured from the farmers through APMC system as against 24,452 MT procured last year
Stubble burning in Amritsar has taken place unusually early this year, due to an early Kharif harvest
The official reason given by Centre is that procurement had to start early in the wake of early arrival of the kharif crop in the two states
According to the ministry, state procuring agencies including Food Corporation of India (FCI) are in a state of readiness for smoothly undertaking procurement operations
In foodgrains, rice production is estimated to be 102.36 million tonnes, which is 0.37 per cent more than 2019-20
The target for the 2020-21 crop year was set at the National Conference for Rabi Campaign 2020, which was held on Monday to review the progress of the kharif season and plan for the rabi crops
As a result, though consumers might have been paying more for these crops, farmers have gained little
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Acreage under rice, moong, ragi, groundnut, soybean, and nigerseed has seen the maximum increase
Among cash crops, cotton planting has risen by 11.29 per cent to 121.25 lakh hectares so far in the current kharif season
The steady monsoon progress has spurred sowing of kharif crops and till last week, acreage was almost 21 per cent more than the same period last
Buying sentiment in rural areas is also better due to good initial spell of rains in June which has led to a better sowing of the kharif crop
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