Paddy procurement crosses 3.64 lakh MT in Kapurthala mandis

A total of 3,64,372.92 metric tonnes (MT) of paddy has been procured in the district’s mandis by various government procurement agencies. Mandi officials said payments amounting to Rs 790.04 crore had already been credited into bank accounts of farmers within the stipulated time.

Among the procurement agencies, PUNGRAIN has made the highest purchase so far, having procured 1,32,717.90 MT of paddy. This is followed by MARKFED with 1,15,918.34 MT, PUNSUP with 81,920.28 MT, and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation with 33,476.90 MT.

Additionally, 2,98,498.04 MT of paddy has already been lifted from mandis, which accounts for 107.18 per cent of the scheduled lifting target. Farmers have been appealed to bring only properly dried paddy to the mandis as per government norms to ensure smooth procurement operations and avoid inconvenience for them and the procurement agencies.

Reaffirming the district administration’s commitment of purchasing every single grain of farmers’ harvest, mandi officials assured that all necessary arrangements had been made to streamline the procurement process. They said employees concerned had been instructed to regularly monitor the situation across mandis in the district.

Officials at the Kapurthala mandi are expecting a shortfall of over 10 lakh paddy bags from the flood-affected areas. In 2023–24, when floods hit the area, 76,30,240 quintals of paddy had arrived in mandis. The following year, arrivals slightly went up to 82,05,889 quintals.

One of the worst-hit regions is Sultanpur Lodhi and adjoining blocks where the crop on 32,053 acres was destroyed due to heavy flooding two months ago. Mandi officials and arhtiyas (commission agents) say crop arrival from these flood-affected areas is expected to be very less.