Government has said that paddy procurement has shown an increase of 22.41 per cent in the current Kharif Marketing season over last year. Agriculture Ministry said over 390 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured till date. It said, government continues to procure Kharif crops at its Minimum Support Price from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes.<br />'' <br />'' The Paddy procurement is continuing smoothly in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;"> Out of the total purchase, Punjab alone has contributed over 202 lakh tonnes which is 51.88 per cent of total procurement. The Ministry said, about 44 lakh 32 thousand farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing procurement Operations with MSP value of 73 thousand 781 Crore rupees.</span>