In the current marketing year, which ends in September, the government has purchased over 890 lakh tonnes of paddy at MSP, which is an all-time high.
This comes in the midst of farmers' protest on Delhi's borders. Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, have been demonstrating for over nine months, demanding the repeal of three new agricultural laws as well as a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP).
The food ministry stated in a statement that the Centre had acquired 889.62 lakh tonnes of paddy in the ongoing 2020-21 Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) through September 5.
In the previous marketing season, the Food Corporation of India, the government's primary body for food-grain procurement and distribution, acquired 764.39 lakh tonnes of paddy.
The procurement for this year comprises 718.09 lakh tonnes of paddy cultivated in the Kharif (summer-sown) season and 171.53 lakh tonnes grown in the rabi (winter-sown) season. Paddy is mostly cultivated during the Kharif season, although it is also grown throughout the rabi season.
"The ongoing KMS procurement activities have benefited around 130.47 lakh farmers with MSP value of Rs 1,67,960.77 crore," the statement added. It further stated that paddy procurement has hit an all-time high, exceeding the previous high of 773.45 lakh tonnes in KMS 2019-20.
For the current cropping year 2020-21 that includes Kharif 2020-21, Rabi 2021, and Summer 2021 seasons, the government through its primary agencies procured 11,99,713.15 MT of pulses and oilseeds having MSP value of Rs.6,742.51 crore up to September 5, benefitting 7,02,368 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
Fresh crop arrivals of the ongoing KMS should arrive soon. Approval was given for the acquisition of 40,000 MT pulses under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for KMS 2021-22 based on the proposal received from Karnataka.
