The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Monday said that paddy procurement up to December 20 this year stood at 415.37 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) as against 341.68 LMT last year, showing a year-on-year growth of 21.56 per cent.
“Paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 has progressed smoothly in the procuring states and UTs of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand with purchase of over 415.37 LMTs of paddy up to 20.12.2020 against the last year corresponding purchase of 341.68 LMT showing an increase of 21.56 per cent over last year,” the Ministry said in a press release.
“Out of the total purchase of 415.37 LMT, Punjab alone has purchased 202.77 LMT till the close of procurement season in the state on 30.11.2020 which is 48.81 per cent of total procurement in the country,” it added.
The Ministry further said that about 48.96 lakh farmers have already been benefited from the ongoing procurement operations with MSP value of ₹78,423.17 crore.
