50% paddy harvesting complete in Amritsar district

Amritsar, October 17

With the arrival of 5.35 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in grain markets here till Monday evening, nearly 50 per cent of the harvesting is complete in the district. Of the total paddy arrival, 2.97 lakh metric tonnes (MT) is of basmati varieties, while 2.37 lakh MT is of non-basmati (parmal) varieties.

District mandi officials stated that harvesting of early sown 1509 basmati variety was almost over. Only a few thousand metric tonnes of the crop is expected to arrive in the coming days. While the harvesting of parmal varieties is underway, late-sown basmati varieties had not matured yet.

While the basmati varieties are not covered under the MSP and are purchased by private traders, five government procurement agencies have procured 2.28 lakh MT of parmal varieties. The share of private traders in purchasing parmal varieties is merely 8,058 MT.

State government agency Pungrain purchased a maximum of 79,203 MT, followed by Markfed 68,757 MT, Punsup 38,477 MT and Punjab Warehouse Corporation 32,282 MT. Central government agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) procured only 9,761 MT of crop.

With the paddy sown on an area of 1.80 lakh hectares in the district, a total of around 9 lakh MT of produce, basmati and non-basmati, is expected to arrive in the markets.

District agriculture officials stated that nearly 50 per cent of harvesting in the district was complete and the remaining is expected to be completed in the next two weeks. They stated that the pace of harvesting had already increased and a total of 13,550 MT of crop had arrived in the markets during the last 24 hours.

Late-sown varieties not matured yet

District mandi officials stated that harvesting of early sown 1509 basmati variety was almost over. Only a few thousand metric tonnes of the crop is expected to arrive in the coming days. While the harvesting of parmal varieties is underway, late-sown basmati varieties had not matured yet.

Purchase share

State government agency Pungrain purchased a maximum of 79,203 MT, followed by Markfed 68,757 MT, Punsup 38,477 MT and Punjab Warehouse Corporation 32,282 MT. Central government agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) procured only 9,761 MT of crop.