National Cooperative Development Corporation, NCDC has sanctioned the first installment funds of Rs. 19, 444 crore to three states for Kharif paddy procurement under Minimum Support Price operations.

 
These states are Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana.

 
Agriculture Ministry said, these amounts have been sanctioned to assist the States and State Marketing Federations in undertaking paddy procurement operations in a timely manner through their respective cooperative organizations.

 
Chhattisgarh gets the highest amount to the tune of Rs. 9,000 crore.

 
Telangana has been sanctioned Rs. 5,500 crores and Haryana Rs. 5,444 crore.
 

The Ministry said, this proactive step by NCDC during the COVID pandemic will give the much needed financial support to farmers of these three states who account for nearly 75 per cent of production of paddy in the country.
 
Managing Director, NCDC, Sundeep Nayak said that in response to the clarion call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NCDC was ready to assist more States in carrying out MSP operations for giving fair value to farmers in the light of historic farm related legislations.