Paddy procurement picks up in Ludhiana district

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, October 7

The procurement of paddy has picked up pace in the district, the administration has said.

The first week since it was officially started on October 1, the arrival and purchase of rice in the district has more than doubled than the corresponding period last year, official figures have revealed.

This was despite the fact that the harvesting of the paddy crop had been delayed due to the spoilsport played by the recent heavy rainfall resulting in flooding of most of the area under the rice crop. Besides, the area under cultivation had also reduced from 2,58,800 hectares in 2022 to 2,56,900 hectares this season.

With the arrival of 18,093 MT of grain on Saturday, the district has received 70,563 metric ton (MT) of paddy at its 13 grain markets, of which 67,984 MT of the grain has already been procured, which account for 96 per cent of the total arrival, leaving only 2,579 MT of paddy unsold in the mandis till Friday evening.

This was almost 94 per cent more arrival and 100 per cent extra procurement than 36,399 MT of paddy that had arrived and 34,003 MT of grain that had been purchased at the district’s mandis during the corresponding period last year.

DC Surabhi Malik said the procurement of rice was undergoing in a smooth and hassle-free manner at all the 13 grain markets across Ludhiana. She said all arrangements were in place to facilitate the farmers.

While the government agencies lead the charge by procuring 67,679 MT of paddy, which was 99.55 per cent of the total purchase so far, the private agencies bought only 306 MT of the foodgrain, which accounted for only 0.45 per cent.

Besides the arrival of 70,563 MT of parmal rice, of which 67,984 MT had been purchased by the government and private agencies at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,203 per quintal, 18,510 MT of basmati rice had also been received and purchased by the private agencies at the maximum price of Rs 3,785 per quintal and minimum of Rs 2,500 per quintal till date.

With 3,779 MT of basmati rice arriving and the entire stock getting purchased on Saturday, the basmati arrival and procurement this year so far was over 61 per cent more than 11,494 MT of basmati rice that had arrived and was procured in Ludhiana during the corresponding period last year.

Divulging the procurement figures, the District Mandi Officer (DMO), Bir Inder Singh Sidhu, disclosed that Khanna was at the top with the arrival and procurement of almost 43 per cent of the district’s total stock so far.

The DMO revealed that of the total procured 67,984 MT of paddy, 26,849 MT, which accounted for 61 per cent of the total purchase, had been lifted from the grain markets while the remaining of purchased foodgrain was in the process of being lifted.

The Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Dr Narinder Benipal, said the paddy crop was planted over 2,56,900 hectares of area in Ludhiana district during the current Kharif season, of which almost 6,475 hectares had suffered damage due to recent floods and incessant rains,” he revealed.

Dr Benipal said the timely intervention and help extended by the Agriculture department had ensured recovery of partially damaged paddy plantation over 4,725 hectares while free saplings/ seeds were provided to the flood-hit farmers to replant paddy crop over 1,750 hectares.

“With this, our entire area that had been hit by the floods had been recovered/ replanted and not even a single field had been left where no paddy plantation had been done,” the CAO claimed.

He said the saplings/ seeds of various paddy varieties, mainly PR-126, PR-124 and basmati were distributed free of cost to the farmers at the block level after making public announcements and publicity in the villages.

“We are committed to purchase every single grain of paddy arriving at the mandis by ensuring smooth and hassle-free procurement, lifting, and payment to the farmers within the stipulated time frame. The entire district administration is on the job to facilitate the peasants during the ongoing procurement process,” said the DC.

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