Till now the government has purchased 12.21 lakh tonnes of Kharif paddy, sold wheat and rice through e-auction

According to the Food Ministry, the government has started purchasing paddy. So far, about 12.21 lakh tonnes of grains have been purchased from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Paddy worth Rs 2,689.77 crore has been purchased at MSP from 99,675 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Haryana, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

This year, harvesting of Kharif paddy, sown in a slightly larger area of 411.96 lakh hectares, started last week.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have started procurement at MSP to create buffer stocks as well as to protect the interests of farmers. The ministry has set a procurement target of 521.27 lakh tonnes in the current season, while actual procurement in the year-ago season was 496 lakh tonnes.

State-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) sold 1.89 lakh tonnes of wheat and only 5,000 tonnes of rice to bulk consumers such as flour mills in the 15th weekly e-auction held on Wednesday. Wheat and rice are being sold under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to bulk users to improve domestic availability and reduce retail prices.

According to the Food Ministry, about 1.89 lakh tonnes of wheat was sold against the offer of 2.01 lakh tonnes in the weekly e-auction held on October 4. However, FCI continued to receive a lackluster response to its weekly e-auction of rice under OMSS and traders purchased only 5,000 tonnes of the grain against an offer of 4.87 lakh tonnes.

Wheat and rice were sold to 2,255 bidders during the e-auction. About 2,447 listed buyers participated for both wheat and rice, the ministry said in a statement.

The weighted average selling price for rice across India was Rs 2,932.91 per quintal, while the reserve price was Rs 2,932.83 per quintal. The ministry said small quantities are being offered in the e-auction to encourage the participation of small traders.