08-10-21 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

The government has procured 2.87 lakh tonnes of paddy so far in the first few days of the commencement of 2021-22 kharif Marketing season, with maximum quantity purchased from Punjab and Haryana, the Union Food Ministry said.

The ministry had to reschedule paddy procurement from October 3 in Punjab and Haryana due to farmers’ protest. Earlier, the procurement was postponed in these two agrarian states till October 11 in view of high moisture content in paddy crop because of unseasonal rains.

Paddy is procured at minimum support price (MSP) directly from farmers by centre’s nodal agency (Fci) along with state agencies in key growing states.

According to the ministry, paddy procurement for the 2020-21 marketing year has almost concluded and a total of 894.24 lakh tonnes of paddy has been from both kharif (summer) and rabi (winter) seasons, surpassing the previous purchase of 770.93 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 marketing year.