New Delhi, Jun 9 (IANS): The procurement of wheat this year has gone up by 12.12 percent so far in comparison to the corresponding period last year, at 418.47 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) against 373.22 LMT, an official statement said on Wednesday.

About 46 lakh farmers benefitted from the ongoing wheat procurement from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 82,648.38 crore, a Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry statement said.

Also, over 816.65 LMTs of paddy was procured on MSP for ongoing KMS 2020-21 and RMS, it said.

According to the statement, government agencies also procured 7,80,432.88 MT of pulses and oilseeds on MSP.

Procurement of wheat in ongoing RMS 2021-22 is continuing smoothly in the procuring states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir at MSP, as was done in previous seasons and till now (upto June 8), a quantity of over 418.47 LMT of wheat has been procured (which is all time high, as it has exceeded previous high 389.92 LMT of RMS 2020-21) against the last year's corresponding purchase of 373.22 LMT, it said.

Paddy procurement in the ongoing Kharif 2020-21 season is continuing smoothly in the procuring states with purchase of over 816.65 LMTs of paddy (includes Kharif crop 706.96 LMT and Rabi crop 109.69 LMT) upto June 8, against the last year's corresponding purchase of 736.50 LMT.

About 120.89 lakh farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing KMS procurement Operations with MSP value of Rs 1,54,184.14 crore. Paddy procurement has also reached at all time high level, surpassing previous high of 773.45 LMT in KMS 2019-20.