New Delhi, The procurement of major rabi oilseed and pulses crops like mustard and chickpea (chana) in the ongoing season is gradually gathering pace despite the nationwide lockdown.

As per the latest data available with Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Sunday, the procurement agency, NAFED has purchased 2.74 lakh tonnes of chana from nine states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Apart from this, 1.71 lakh tonnes of toor has been procured from eight states, namely Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha.

The agency has procured 3.40 lakh tonnes of mustard from five states, namely Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana.

As much as 1,700 MT of sunflower has been procured from Telangana.

In Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2020-21, a total of 241.36 lakh MT wheat arrived in FCI, out of which 233.51 lakh MT was purchased.

In Rabi season 2020-21, a total of 3,206 designated procurement centres for Rabi pulses and oilseeds are available in 11 states, said Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in a statement.

The government is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the lockdown period, it said.

The sowing of summer crops has also increased significantly during the lockdown period as data shows paddy sowing in the ongoing season reached to 34.87 lakh hectares while the acreage of summer paddy crop was 25.29 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of last year.

Area under pulses is around 10.35 lakh hectares as compared to 5.92 lakh hectates during the corresponding period of last year.

The acreage of coarse cereals rose to 9.57 lakh hectares as compared to 6.20 lakh hectares in the corresponding period a year ago.

Area under oilseeds is about 9.17 lakh hectares against 7.09 lakh hectares during the corresponding period of last year.