Nearly 60% paddy harvested, 5.59 lakh MT reached markets

Amritsar, October 26

Nearly 60 per cent of the paddy harvesting is complete in the district with 5.59 lakh metric tonnes of paddy produce arriving in the grain markets till date.

Of the total produce, 3.76 lakh MT is basmati produce and 1.87 lakh MT is parmal. In comparison, the district had recorded a total arrival of 5.52 lakh MT of basmati produce and 3.77 lakh MT of parmal, totalling 9.29 lakh MT of paddy produce last year.

The district mandi officials stated that the harvesting of paddy crop was currently at its peak as the grain markets witnessed paddy arrival of 21,710 MT basmati and 11,222 MT parmal on Thursday.

While the basmati varieties are solely purchased by private buyers, their share in procurement of parmal varieties is merely 3,526 MT as the government procurement agencies have purchased maximum 1,83,700 MT of the crop.

The lifting of parmal stocks from the grain markets has also picked up since last week as the percentage of un-lifted grains has gone down to 33 per cent from the 40 per cent last week. Mandi officials stated that 1.25 lakh MT of parmal produce has been lifted from the markets.

Of the government procurement agencies, Pungrain has procured maximum 73,758 MT of parmal while Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured the lowest of 3,044 MT only.

Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Jatinder Singh Gill said the harvesting of parmal varieties would continue for the next fortnight. He added that the harvesting of late sown basmati varieties would begin after the first week of next month and would continue for at least three weeks.

He said the total arrival of basmati produce this season would be more than the previous year’s total as the area under the crop had increased this year and the area under parmal varieties decreased.