Govt's paddy procurement at MSP reaches 16.14 million tons so far

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.