Crop procurement processbegins at 35 grain markets

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 18

Finally, the wheat crop has started arriving at the grain markets. As many as 35 grain markets in the district became operational on Wednesday as they received 6,880 tonnes of wheat, of which 3,233 tonnes were procured by the government agencies as well as private traders.

The government-run procurement agencies are leading with a total procurement of 2,880 tonnes whereas the private buyers have managed to buy only 353 tonnes of wheat. According to information, the private buyers are offering a slight higher price than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,735 per tonne. The private buyers on Wednesday offered Rs 1,740 per quintal, whereas the rates were higher on Tuesday as some of them offered Rs 1,799 per quintal.

The district has a total of 57 grain markets out of which eight are bigger.

District Mandi Officer Kulwant Singh said, “The remaining 22 markets will also become operational soon with the arrival of the grain. Most of the non-operational mandis are small in size.”

He said the harvesting this season was late and no moisture problem was there. “The weather has changed and as such the moisture content is within the permissible limits,” he said.

“The pace of harvesting was expected to increase in the next two days. Adequate arrangements for instant procurement have been made and farmers will not face any problem,” he said.