The government’s paddy procurement for the central pool rose 12 per cent to 170.53 lakh tonnes till October of the ongoing 2022-23 kharif marketing season, according to the food ministry data.
Higher quantities of paddy were purchased from Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
Normally, paddy procurement begins immediately after the withdrawal of the Southwest monsoon from October onwards. However in southern states, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it begins from September.
The government aims to procure 771.25 lakh tonnes of paddy in the 2022-23 kharif marketing season (October-September). The actual procurement stood at record 759.32 lakh tonnes in the previous kharif marketing season.
According to the official data, the overall paddy buying has increased to 170.53 lakh tonnes till October 31 of the 2022-23 kharif marketing season from 152.57 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.
Out of the total, about 107.24 lakh tonnes of paddy has been purchased from Punjab till October-end compared to 99.12 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. From Haryana, 52.26 lakh tonnes were bought as against 48.27 lakh tonnes in the same period a year ago.
However, in Uttar Pradesh, paddy procurement remained lower at 33,668 tonnes till October-end of this kharif marketing season as against 83,766 tonne in the year-ago period, the data showed.