Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has stated that paddy procurement is already robust in Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The procurement target from the eastern States by the end of Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2017-18 is 155.93 Lakh MT. Presently, the figure stands at 53.65 Lakh MT for KMS. In consultation with the States it was decided to procure 330.00 lakh MT of wheat during Rabi Marketing Season 2017-18, which is considerably more in comparison with the last season actual procurement of 229.61 lakh MT. The State government decided to purchase 65 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the Kharif Marketing Season for year 2016-17. Chhattisgarh stood second in the country in Kharif season 2015-16 among a list of 18 states with targetted procurement of 36 lakh metric tonnes of paddy crop during 2015-16 as per information made available by the Central Government in that year where Punjab ranked first with paddy procurement target of 82 lakh metric tonnes.