NEW DELHI, APR 24, 2020: THE Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the lockdown period. The updated status of activities is given below:

1. Out of 2587 Principal/main Agricultural Markets in the country, 1091 markets were functional at the beginning of the lockdown period on 26.03.2020, which has increased to 2069 markets as on 21.04.2020.
 
2. Arrival of vegetables such as Onion, Potato and Tomato in mandis has increased by 622%,187% and 210% respectively on 21.04.2020 as compared to 16.03.2020.

3. During Rabi season 2020, the procurement of Pulses & Oilseeds on MSP is currently in progress in twenty (20) States. A quantity of 1,73,064.76 MT of Pulses and 1,35,993.31 MT of Oil seeds has been procured by NAFED and FCI valued at Rs 1447.55 Crores through which 1,83,989 farmers have been benefited.

4. States have commenced activities under the National Bamboo Mission to take advantage of the ensuing monsoon. Bamboo nursery preparation has started in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand with provision of masks, food etc to the workers. Nurseries have been raised in Sabarkantha and Vansada districts of Gujarat. Farmer Producer Organizations have started plantation in 585 ha target area involving 520 farmers in Dimoria block of Kamrup district in Assam.

5. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme during the lockdown period from 24.3.2020 till date, about 8.938 crore farmer families have been benefitted and an amount of Rs. 17,876.7 crore has been released so far.
 
Harvesting Status as on 22.04.2020

Wheat: In the major wheat growing States, the status of harvesting is encouraging.  As reported by the States about 98-99% of wheat crop has been harvested in Madhya Pradesh, 88-90% in Rajasthan, 75-78% in Uttar Pradesh, 40-45% in Haryana, 35-40% in Punjab and 82-84% in other States.

Pulses: As reported by the States, harvesting of pulses has been completed in almost all the States.
 
Sugarcane:  As reported by the States, 100% harvesting of sugarcane has been completed in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab. About 92-98% of harvesting is completed in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Haryana and Uttarakhand whereas 80-85% harvesting has been completed in Uttar Pradesh.
 
Potato: Harvesting of potato is completed and storage is under process.
 
Onion: Harvesting of Rabi onion in the field of small farmer units is almost completed. Harvesting in larger farmers plots is in progress and may extend up to second week of May.