Lucknow, Mar 3 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government has purchased around 53.79 lakh tonnes of paddy for Rs 11,745 crore in the kharif marketing season 2023-24, against its target of 70 lakh tonnes.

This quantity has been picked up from more than eight lakh farmers, in a move to protect their interests.

For the paddy procurement which commenced on October 1, 2023, the government had set a minimum support price of Rs 2,183 per quintal for common paddy and Rs 2,203 per quintal for Grade-A paddy. However, the state failed in meeting its target of procuring 70 lakh tonnes, reportedly due to farmers selling directly in the open market.

“The procurement started from west UP on October 1, for Lucknow and Ayodhya divisions on October 20 and for eastern divisions on November 1. Paddy was procured from 8,01,624 farmers at 5,207 centres,” said an official spokesman.

The Lucknow division has reported the highest procurement with over 7.52 lakh tonnes. Bareilly division stood second with 6.49 lakh tonnes followed by Varanasi division with over 6.18 lakh tonnes.