In Tamil Nadu, the procurement of paddy from farmers by the government has exceeded all previous years' record, despite the pandemic.<br />'' <br />''The figure has reached about 32.24 lakh metric tonnes so far and is set to go up higher, said the state food minister Kamaraj.<br />'' <br />''The Koyambedu Wholesale Market in Chennai, considered one of the biggest in Asia, reopened Monday morning, after a gap of about five months. It was closed in early May due to the pandemic.<br />'' <br />''AIR correspondent reports, the farmers have prevailed over the pandemic as Covid-19 has failed to dampen the agriculture sector.<br />'' <br />''It is more so in the field of paddy cultivation, as indicated by the latest data.<br />'' <br />''The state Food Minister Kamaraj told reporters at Tiruvarur in the Delta that the paddy procurement this season so far has exceeded 32.24 lakh metric tonnes.<br />'' <br />''He said this is the highest quantity of paddy procurement from the farmers by the state government.<br />'' <br />''He further said the paddy would possibly fetch more prices from October 1st as the price for the kharif season would apply from next month.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The inflow of the food grains to the procurement centres may further go up from then.</span>