3,709 metric tonnes of paddy crop arrives in mandis of Amritsar district

Amritsar, October 2

The harvesting of parmal varieties of paddy is slowly picking up pace as 1,751 metric tonnes of the crop arrived in the grain markets of the district on Monday. With this, a total of 3,709 metric tonnes (MT) of crop has arrived in the markets.

The government procurement of paddy crop had started on October 1 but so far only 32 MT has been purchased by the government agencies. Officials of the District Mandi Board stated that more moisture in the grains is an obstacle in the way of government purchase.

Mandi officials have asked the farmers to bring fully ripened crop to the grain markets so that they do not have to face any problem. The officials stated that so far only Pungrain has procured the crop in the district.

While the procurement by government agencies is negligible, the private buyers too have purchased only 1,435 MT of parmal crop. A maximum of 1,399 MT of produce has arrived in Rayya grain market followed by 1,369 in Genri mandi and 897 MT in Mehta Dana Mandi.

Meanwhile, the harvesting of basmati varieties is on in full swing and so far a total of 1,43,473 MT of crop has arrived in the grain markets of the district. Even on Monday, despite a public holiday, over 10,436 MT of produce arrived in the markets.

The basmati varieties are not procured by government agencies and these are purchased only by private buyers. District agriculture officials stated that basmati production this year would be more than the parmal variety as it has been sown in a larger area.

Agriculture department officials added that so far harvesting of parmal varieties has begun only in vegetable belts. They added that the crop is yet to ripen fully and harvesting would pick up further pace when the moisture content in the grain decreases in the next seven to 10 days.

Sifting grain

• Harvesting of basmati varieties in full swing
• Basmati varieties not procured by the government agencies till now. Only purchased by private buyers in mandis
• Basmati production higher than parmal this year as it has been sown in a larger area
• Harvesting of parmal varieties has begun only in vegetable belts so far