Amritsar: Cloudy conditions have paddy farmers worried

Amritsar, October 12

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Cloudy weather conditions, especially after the area received light rain on Tuesday late night, have left paddy farmers worried as the crop is almost ready for harvesting in the next one or two weeks.

Officials of the Agriculture Department stated that the prevailing weather conditions might force farmers to start paddy harvesting early as they fear more rain could damage their crops.

However, they say the weatherman has not forecast heavy rain during the next few days and the farmers must harvest the crop only if it has fully ripened and the moisture content in grains is below the permissible limit.

As per the government guidelines, the paddy grains must not be having a moisture content of more than 17 per cent. Generally, the grains with more moisture content are purchased by private buyers after applying a cut in the MSP. The grains, which are as per the specifications, issued for procurement under the MSP are procured by government agencies.

With cloudy weather conditions prevailing in the area for the last couple of days, the pace of harvesting has already increased. Around 21,302 metric tonnes of paddy crop arrived in the grain markets in the district on Wednesday. The officials stated that the arrival of the crop on Wednesday was the highest of the season.