Paddy procurement off to slow start in Punjab

Chandigarh, October 1

As many as 41,877 tonnes of paddy have arrived in the various mandis of Punjab on the first day of the procurement season.

Private traders today bought higher quantity of paddy in the state as compared to government agencies. Of the total paddy arrivals, 12,284 tonnes have been purchased with government procurement agencies procuring 4,259 tonnes of paddy and private traders purchasing 8,025 tonnes.

The highest arrival, on Day 1 of the kharif marketing season, has been in Patiala (9,776 tonnes), Mohali (5,392 tonnes) and Gurdasapur (4,565 tonnes), Ludhiana (3,881 tonnes) and Fatehgarh Sahib (3,331 tonnes) districts.

The highest paddy purchase has been reported from Gurdasapur district (3,597 tonnes) and all the purchase has been by private players.

Five districts of Moga, Muktsar, Barnala, Pathankot and Bathinda saw zero arrivals of paddy.

In Sangrur, adequate arrangements have been made to purchase paddy, but due to high moisture content, the government officials refrained from procurement. Avtar Ealwal, chairman, Sangrur Market Committee, said, “We have made all the arrangements. Today, officials found moisture content higher than the permissible limit.”

Paddy harvesting has yet to pick pace in Gurdaspur. The harvesting of parmal variety will commence after 10 days. Amrik Singh, Deputy Director, Agriculture Department, said harvesting could not start as the crop had not ripened fully.

In Jalandhar, a total of 1,968 metric tonnes of paddy arrived at nine grain markets of the district. The private traders purchased 15 metric tonne paddy at Shahkot mandi. District Food and Civil Supplies Officer Narinder Singh said, “Paddy procurement has just started today in the district. It will pick pace in the coming days.”