Over 50% fields harvested; crop arrival reaches 4.37 lakh MT in Amritsar district

Amritsar, May 1

With an arrival of 4.37 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat in grain markets of the district till Wednesday evening, over 50 per cent of harvesting of the crop is complete.

A total arrival of 7.5 lakh MT wheat is expected to arrive in mandis during the ongoing harvesting season. Agriculture officials said in many areas, late sown varieties of wheat were yet to be harvested. Officials said with the harvesting going at fast pace, the work would be completed within few days.

District mandi officials said 47,897 MT crop had arrived in grain markets on Wednesday. The government procurement agencies purchased 44,492 MT of grains today while private buyers bought 2168 MT.

So far, the government agencies have procured a total of 3.90 lakh MT of wheat while private traders have purchased 38,256 MT. The district has recorded a total procurement of 4.28 Lakh MT. Mandi officials said 92 per cent of the crop, which arrived in markets till date, was procured and only 9,214 MT was left unsold.

Out of 4.28 lakh MT wheat procured by government agencies, only 1.73 lakh MT had been lifted from markets so far. Grain markets in the district still have 2.54 lakh MT of procured wheat stocks, which are yet to be lifted.

Officials said nearly 68 per cent of the procured crop had been lifted. Till yesterday evening, 62 per cent of the crop was lifted, said an official. He said work had been streamlined and the entire stock would be lifted within a few days.