By IANS,
Chandigarh : Moving towards another bumper crop, food grain states Punjab and Haryana have procured nearly 155 lakh tonnes of paddy this season, officials said here Tuesday.
While Punjab has procured nearly 115 lakh tonnes paddy, Haryana has procured nearly 40 lakh tonnes. Bulk of the paddy (nearly 99 percent) has been procured by government agencies while the rest has been procured by private millers in both states.
In Punjab, Ludhiana, Sangrur and Patiala were leading in procurement.
Food and civil supply officials in Punjab said farmers in the state have received a total payment of nearly Rs.11,000 crore this season (starting Oct 1).
Procurement of paddy in both the states started Oct 1 but the bulk of the stocks started arriving only after Oct 10.
In Punjab, the state government has set up 1,770 procurement centres.
In Haryana, the procurement of nearly 40 lakh tonnes so far is higher than the over 33.46 lakh tonnes procured in the corresponding period last year, a spokesman of the Haryana food and supplies department said.
Kurukshetra, Karnal and Kaithal were leading in paddy procurement in Haryana.
The minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government this time is Rs.1,250 and Rs.1,280 per quintal, respectively, for common and grade-A varieties of paddy.