‘Cotton Corp to procure 125 lakh bales’

The federal government, reeling under intense farmer protest,s especially in Punjab and Haryana, has introduced improved procurement targets for rice and cotton during the latest kharif marketing season and said that it has used in excess of ₹1.90 lakh crore in 2019-20 for procuring rice and wheat on MSP.

Announcing cotton procurement targets for the season, for the first time, Textile Secretary Ravi Capoor claimed the condition-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) would procure one hundred twenty five lakh bales (just one bale is one hundred seventy kg) of cotton, which is 20 lakh bales far more than the one hundred and five lakh bales procured in the former season.

Capoor, who briefed the media along with Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, Food stuff and Community Distribution Secretary Sudhanshu Panday and Food stuff Corporation of India (FCI) CMD, DV Prasad, assured the farmers that the CCI would be willing to procure any sum of excellent cotton that farmers carry.

Procurement assurance

Similarly, FCI chief Prasad claimed rice procurement concentrate on for the latest kharif marketing season is established at 497 lakh tonnes (lt), which is 18 per cent far more than 420 lt procured in the former marketing season. Other than, there has been a considerable improve in procurement of rice during the 2019-20 rabi marketing season (RMS). As as opposed to 64 lt in the corresponding season, rice procured during the 2019-20 RMS was virtually 90 lt.

In the latest season, 15,26,534 MT of paddy obtaining MSP worth of about ₹2,882 cores has been procured from one,27,832 farmers of Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as on Oct six.

The federal government fielded the major officers predominantly to allay the problems expressed by the agitating farmers that the federal government may perhaps do away with the MSP routine with the modern passage of a few farm Bills.

Reassuring the farmers, the officers claimed the Narendra Modi government’s file on procurement has been exemplary.

Modi govt file

The FCI chief claimed that the federal government used ₹1,90,380 crore for procuring wheat and rice in 2019-20 as against ₹1,33,617 crore allocated in 2016-seventeen. Other than, the federal government payout for rice and wheat procurement in the latest financial 12 months so significantly was ₹1,20,one hundred fifty five crore, which is a whopping 53 per cent far more than the corresponding period in the former fiscal.

In accordance to Capoor, the CCI has earmarked a sum of ₹35,000 crore for procuring cotton this 12 months, which is ₹6,500 crore far more than that in the former 12 months.

Agriculture Secretary Agarwal claimed the complete space under kharif crop this is one,095 lakh hectares (lh), 10 lh far more than the former file of one,085 lh. He claimed the space under oilseeds, pulses and rice has gone up by 18 lh, seven lh and four lh, respectively, as as opposed to previous kharif season.

He claimed there has been considerable improve in procurement targets established and attained by the Modi federal government as opposed to the former UPA federal government. In paddy procurement alone, the federal government transferred ₹4.95 lakh crore to farmers during the previous 5 a long time, two.four moments far more than the ₹2.06 lakh crore used during the 5 a long time of the UPA-two. Similarly, the Modi federal government used 98 moments and seventeen moments far more funds on procurement of pulses and oilseeds, respectively, during the identical period as comapared to the 2nd UPA routine.