New Delhi, May 12 (IANS): Procurement of wheat in the current Rabi Marketing Session is seeing a one-third increase over the corresponding period last year, with 341.77 lakh metric tonne (LMT) procured on MSP till May 1, an official statement said on Wednesday.

A Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry statement said: "Procurement of wheat in ongoing RMS2021-22 is continuing smoothly in the procuring states and UTs of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and Bihar at MSP, as was done in previous seasons, and till now (upto May 1), a quantity of over 341.77 LMT of wheat has been procured against the last year's corresponding purchase of 252.51 LMT."

As many as 34.57 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 67,499.98 crore, it said.

According to the Ministry, paddy procurement in the ongoing season of Kharif 2020-21 is continuing smoothly in the procuring states with purchase of over 732.74 LMT -- Kharif crop of 705.41 LMT and Rabi crop of 27.33 LMT -- upto May 10 against the last year's corresponding purchase of 681.45 LMT.

"About 109.75 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing KMS procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 1,38,341.11 crore," it said.

Based on the proposal from the states, approval was also accorded for procurement of 107.37 LMT of pulse and oilseeds of KMS 2020-21 and RMS 2021 for the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh under Price Support Scheme (PSS).

The sanction for procurement of 1.74 LMT of copra (the perennial crop) for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala was also given.

The Ministry said that upto May 10, the government, through its nodal agencies has procured 6,51,493.99 MT of moong, urad, tur, gram, masoor, groundnut pods, mustard seed and soyabean having MSP value of Rs 3,414.20 crore benefitting 3,99,706 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, and Rajasthan under Kharif 2020-21 and Rabi 2021.

"Similarly, 5,089 MT of copra having MSP value of Rs 52.40 crore has been procured, benefitting 3,961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, upto May 10. The respective State/UTs governments are making necessary arrangements for commencement of procurement from the date as decided by the respective states based on the arrivals of pulses and oilseeds," the Ministry said.