The Centre has procured 52.83 lakh tonnes of pulses and oilseeds worth ₹24,503 crore so far under the price support scheme (PSS), according to the Agriculture Ministry.

The PSS is operationalised on the State governments’ request when the prices fall below the minimum support price (MSP). The procurement is undertaken by nodal agencies such as Nafed at the MSP. Only fair average quality commodities are purchased.

Per the ministry’s latest data, both pulses and oilseeds have been purchased under the PSS in a dozen States.

Much of the procurement was undertaken in Madhya Pradesh, at 22.91 lakh tonnes, followed by Rajasthan, at 15.58 lakh tonnes and Gujarat, at 4.60 lakh tonnes till January 16 of this crop year (July 2018-June 2019).

The procurement in Maharasthra was at 2.26 lakh tonnes, Haryana at 2.30 lakh tonnes, Karnataka at 1.64 lakh tonnes, Telangana at 1.07 lakh tonnes, Uttar Pradesh at 57,780 tonnes, Odisha at 9,655 tonnes, Tamil Nadu at 1,912 tonnes and West Bengal at 826 tonnes in the said period, data showed.

In total, 52.83 lakh tonnes of pulses and oilseeds have been procured under the PSS, which was worth ₹24,503 crore, till January 16 of this year, the data showed.

Prices of pulses and oilseeds are under pressure owing to higher production.

Per the first estimate of the ministry, pulses output during the 2018 Kharif season is pegged at 0.91 million tonnes, as against 0.82 million tonnes achieved in the year-ago period.

Similarly, production of oilseeds is estimated to be 22.18 million tonnes as against 20.99 million tonnes in the said period.

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