New Delhi: Despite peak Covid-19 pandemic, the North Zone of Food Corporation of India (FCI) has made record procurement of wheat during RMS 2020-21 and 2021-22.
A record 298.88 lakh MT wheat was procured from 30.58 lakh farmers at MSP during 2021-22, which is the highest ever procurement in the history of the north zone and it's around 15 per cent more than the previous year's procurement.
A total of Rs 58,153.03 crore have been paid directly in the bank account of farmers as the sale of their produce at the MSP.
Apart from wheat, the North zone has also recorded the highest ever procurement of paddy in the history of the north zone as 337.5 lakh MT paddy has been procured in 2020-21 up to July 1, 2021. The procurement of paddy during Kharif marketing season 2020-21 has surpassed last year procurement of 293.63 LMT.
According to an official press statement issued by FCI's North zone, the Centre had launched Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) on March 26, 2020, and under this scheme, 5 kg food grains per person per month were distributed for free additionally to the NFSA beneficiaries.
The above allocation is in addition to the regular monthly allocation under NFSA, it said, adding that over 24.75 crore population of north zone got benefited through the PMGKAY scheme.
The scheme benefitted around 24.75 crore population in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and UTs of Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh.
The Centre is bearing the entire cost on account of such distribution, including food subsidy, intra-state transportation, dealer's margin/additional dealer's margin, etc, the FCI said in its statement issued on Tuesday.
"The North zone has also implemented "One Nation, One MSP, One DBT effectively and around 15 per cent more mandis/purchase centres were opened during RMS 2020-21 and 2021-22 for seamless procurement," it said.
"Monthly average offtake of foodgrains from Central pool also increased to 21.63 LMT per month during 2020-21 from 13.81 LMT due to special allocations by the Centre under PMGKAY, migrants scheme, etc," it said.