Harvesting of rabi pulses and potato is fully completed, while that of wheat, sugarcane and onion is on track and near completion across the country, Union Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday.
Arrival of staple vegetables in mandis saw a big leap compared to last month. There was a six-fold increase in onion arrival, while it doubled in case of potatoes and tomatoes as on March 16, the ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture activities have been exempted from the lockdown, imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"In the major wheat growing states, the status of harvesting is encouraging," the ministry said in a statement.
As reported by state governments, about 98-99 per cent of wheat crop has been harvested in Madhya Pradesh, 88-90 per cent in Rajasthan, 75-78 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 40-45 per cent in Haryana, 35-40 per cent in Punjab and 82-84 per cent in other states, it added.
Wheat is the main rabi (winter) crop. The government is estimating a record 106.21 million tonnes wheat production in the current year.
In case of pulses, harvesting has been completed in almost all the states.
Gram and lentils are the main pulses grown during the rabi season.
Similarly, harvesting of potatoes has been completed and storage is under process, the ministry said.
While harvesting of rabi onion in fields of small farmers is almost completed, it is still in progress in large plots which may extend up to the second week of May.
It may be noted that about 50 per cent of the rabi onion output is kept in storage for use in lean season (August-November), and farmers fetch good price for it.
With regard to sugarcane, harvesting has been completed fully in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab.
About 92-98 per cent of harvesting is completed in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Haryana and Uttarakhand, whereas 80-85 per cent harvesting has been completed in Uttar Pradesh, the ministry said in the statement.
Procurement of rabi crops, especially wheat, pulses and oilseeds at minimum support price (MSP) is underway.
The state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) and cooperative Nafed have so far purchased 1.73 lakh tonnes of pulses and 1.35 lakh tonnes of oilseeds at MSP directly from farmers during the 2020 rabi season, the ministry said.
The procurement of these two commodities is valued at Rs 1,447.55 crore, benefitting 1,83,989 farmers, it added.
With harvesting of rabi crops in full swing, arrival of key vegetables like onion, potato and tomato in mandis have been much higher than it was before March 16.
According to the statement, out of 2,587 agriculture wholesale markets in the country, 2,069 markets are functional.
Meanwhile, the ministry said it has disbursed about Rs 17,876.7 crore to 8.93 crore farmer beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme till date during the lockdown period.
The government transfers Rs 6,000 to each beneficiary farmer under PM-KISAN in three-equal installments in a year.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks