New Delhi, Apr 26 (IANS): The Union government said on Monday that Rs 8,180 crore MSP payment has been transferred directly into the accounts of Punjab farmers using the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.

A statement issued by the Centre said that for the first time, the farmers of Punjab have started receiving payments directly into their bank accounts against the sale of their wheat crop.

About Rs 8,180 crore has already been transferred directly into the accounts of Punjab farmers', the statement said.

In the ongoing Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2021-22, the government of India is continuing to procure Rabi crops at MSP from the farmers as per the existing Price Support Scheme.

The Union government also said that wheat procurement is going on at brisk pace in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states/UTs with the purchase of over 222.33 LMT up to April 25, as against 77.57 LMT procured during the corresponding period of last year.

Out of the total purchase, major contributions have been made by Punjab (84.15 LMT, 37.8 per cent), Haryana (71.76 LMT, 32.27 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (51.57 LMT, 23.2 per cent), up to April 25.

About 21.17 lakh wheat farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of about Rs 43,912 crore, the statement said.

Till April 25, about Rs 8,180 crore in Punjab and about Rs 4,668 crore in Haryana have been transferred directly into the farmers' accounts.

This year, Punjab and Haryana switched from indirect payment of MSP to direct online transfer of benefits to the farmers' bank accounts by all the procuring agencies as per the direction of the government of India.