Despite early start, only 10,392 MT paddy procured in Punjab till Sept 22

Officials said that the move to start early procurement followed the government’s decision to allow farmers to sow paddy from June 1 this year instead of June 10, to avoid the heavy moisture content in the crop at the time of harvesting from October beginning to November second week.

However, bulk of the crop is still standing in the fields, and large-scale arrivals may take at least another week to pick up which will be close to the usual harvesting time in the state.

According to data from the Punjab Mandi Board, only 3,094.98 MT paddy arrived on September 22, of which 2,405.5 MT was procured — 97.2% by government agencies and the rest by private traders. Progressive procurement so far stands at 7,538.43 MT.

Kapurthala (3,908.5 MT) and SAS Nagar (2,201.5 MT) have so fare reported the highest cumulative arrivals, while in 14 districts of the total 23, including many key paddy belts such as Bathinda, Mansa, and Ferozepur, arrivals are yet to begin. Both Kapurthala and SAS Nagar are the only two districts in the state which received less than normal rainfall this year. While Kapurthala got 23% deficit rainfall, SAS nagar received 17% deficit showers this monsoon.

Though the medium and long duration paddy varieties will not arrive in mandis before the first and second week of October, short duration varieties which would have otherwise been ready by this time got delayed by a week to 10 days due to incessant rainfall in the state.

Ravinder Singh Cheema, president of Punjab Arhtiya Association, said, “Very little crop arrived in the mandis till date despite procurement starting on September 16. This is because of the rain and flood situation in the state. Mid and long duration varieties will take time to reach mandis. Procurement will gain momentum in the coming days.”

In Jalandhar grain market, commission agent Jagjeet Singh Arora said that at the moment there is negligible arrival of the crop in the mandis.

Meanwhile, the government has released Rs 6.04 crore to farmers against a due of Rs 3.33 crore.