New Delhi: The government on Thursday said 161.47 lakh tonne of kharif paddy has been procured directly from the farmers at the support price so far, and the buying operation is progressing smoothly.
Paddy procurement is undertaken by the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies.
The agencies are procuring paddy grown in the kharif (summer) season at the minimum support price (MSP).
“Up to November 1, a quantity of 161.47 lakh tonne of paddy has been procured, benefitting about 9.33 lakh farmers with MSP value of Rs 35,571.14 crore,” the food ministry said in a statement.
The 2023-24 kharif marketing season, which runs from October to September is “progressing smoothly,” it said.
The agencies procure paddy from farmers and mill it later to get it in rice form.
The ministry is targeting is procure 521.27 lakh tonne of rice in the kharif marketing season, out of which 20.76 per cent (108.23 lakh tonne) has already been procured from Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
About 66.42 lakh tonne has been purchased from Punjab, 36.11 lakh tonne from Haryana and 3.26 lakh tonne from Tamil Nadu, it added. Paddy is grown in both kharif and rabi season.
About 80 per cent of the country’s total rice production comes from the kharif season.
Meanwhile, State-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) sold 2.87 lakh tonne of wheat from the buffer stock to bulk consumers in the 19th round of e-auction.
FCI has been selling wheat and rice from the Central pool to bulk buyers like flour millers and small traders under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) since June 28 through a weekly e-auction in order to control the retail prices of these key commodities.
The quantity of wheat sold in the 19th e-auction held on November 1 remained slightly higher as the FCI increased the bid quantity to Rs 200 tonne under the OMSS.
“As a result, 2.87 lakh tonne wheat has been sold to 2,389 bidders in the e-auction...,” the food ministry said in a statement.
The weighted average selling price was Rs 2,291.15 per quintal for fair and average quality wheat, as against the reserve price of Rs 2,150 per quintal.
The weighted average selling price of under relaxed specification wheat was Rs 2,311.62 per quintal as against the reserve price of Rs 2,125 per quintal. The sale of wheat under OMSS will continue till March 31, 2024 and about 101.5 lakh tonne of wheat will be offloaded till then.
The traders are kept out from the ambit of wheat sale under OMSS and till October 3, about 1,721 random checks were made across the country to curb hoarding of stocks.