Chandigarh, Nov 14 (IANS): Agrarian states Punjab and Haryana have procured over 215.65 lakh tonne of paddy this kharif season, food and supplies officials said on Wednesday.

Punjab alone has procured over 150.37 lakh tonne of paddy till Tuesday evening, a Punjab government spokesman said.

Out of this 149.44 lakh tonne has been procured by government agencies while 92,854 tonne has been procured by private millers.

Payment of nearly Rs 23,000 crore has already been released by the Punjab government to arhtiyas (commission agents) and farmers.

In neighbouring Haryana, over 65.28 lakh tonne of paddy has procured this Kharif season.

Out of this, government agencies have procured over 57.31 lakh tonne, private millers have procured over 7.97 lakh tonne.

Haryana is well known for Basmati rice production, especially in Karnal district.

'Green Revolution' state Punjab contributes nearly 50 per cent of food grains (wheat and paddy) to the national kitty.

The Punjab government has made arrangements for a bumper procurement of 200 lakh tonne of paddy this season.

In 2017-18, a total of 179.34 lakh tonne of paddy was procured. Paddy procurement started in the agrarian state on October 1, but the bulk of the stocks started coming after October 10.

The Centre sanctioned a Cash Credit Limit (CCL) amount of Rs 29,695.40 crore for procurement of paddy in the kharif marketing season 2018-19. The Punjab government had demanded Rs 40,300 crore.