85% of wheat crop over 2.45 lakh hectares harvested in Ludhiana district

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 30

Notwithstanding unfavourable weather conditions, the harvesting of wheat has picked up pace after almost a month of the official procurement of the main Rabi crop had begun on April 1 and over two weeks after Baisakhi, the festival of harvest, in Ludhiana.

Following the initial delay in the wheat harvest, over 85 per cent of the total wheat sown over 2,45,200 hectares has now been harvested in the state’s biggest and largest district till Tuesday.

Agricultural experts have attributed the delayed harvesting to the recent rainfall and low temperatures continuing for the past several days, besides the inclement weather conditions, which were still persisting in the region.

However, the yield of wheat has gone up by almost 10 per cent this season as compared to the previous year, official figures have revealed. From 4,591 kg per hectares in 2022-23, the wheat yield this season has touched 5,000 kg per hectare, which will lead to 12.26 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of crop production in the district this year.

The harvesting of mustard, another Rabi crop, was, however, completed with the entire crop sown over 2,600 hectares already harvested in the district till Tuesday.

The yield of mustard has also increased from 1,916 kg per hectare last season to 1,950 kg per hectare this year, which is expected to result in the production of 5 LMT of the crop in the district this season.

On the procurement front, over 6.7 lakh MT (LMT) of wheat had arrived at mandis (grain markets) across 13 market committees in the district till last evening. Of this, over 6.61 LMT grains have been purchased with 8,467 MT of the stock lying unsold due to higher moisture content in the mandis till last evening.

Arrival, procurement less

This season’s wheat arrival and procurement was still almost 11 per cent and around 12 per cent, respectively, less than over 7.51 LMT of the crop that had arrived and over 7.48 LMT of it had been procured at the mandis in the district during the corresponding period last year.

The official figures compiled by the Agriculture Department, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that 2,09,312 hectares, which accounted for 85.4 per cent of the total 2,45,200 hectares of wheat crop, has been harvested in the district so far.

The block-wise harvest figures revealed that 11,560 of the total 13,600 hectares of wheat has been harvested in the Ludhiana block, 23,250 of 31,000 hectares in Mangat, 16,536 of 21,200 hectares in Pakhowal, 22,080 of 27,600 hectares in Jagraon, 25,670 of 30,200 hectares in Sidhwan Bet, 26,315 of 27,700 hectares in Sudhar, 16,650 of 18,500 hectares in Khanna, 17,864 of 20,300 hectares in Dehlon, 14,976 of 19,200 hectares in Doraha, 11,160 of 12,400 hectares in Samrala and 22,325 hectares of the total 23,500 hectares of wheat crop sown in the Machhiwara block has already been harvested.

When it comes to procurement, Asia’s biggest grain market Khanna has received the maximum of 89,812 MT of wheat so far followed by 76,953 MT at Jagraon and 74,119 MT at Mullanpur Dakha.

Among other mandis, 54,719 MT of the crop has arrived at Doraha, 34,824 MT at Hathur, 39,796 MT at Kila Raipur, 29,311 MT at Ludhiana, 28,075 MT at Maloud, 65,166 MT at Raikot, 37,473 MT at Sahnewal, 39,109 MT at Samrala, and 34,517 MT of wheat has arrived at the grain markets under Sidhwan Bet market committee so far.

Of the total arrivals so far, government agencies have procured 5.69 LMT while private agencies have purchased 93,021 MT of wheat, which together was 98.74 per cent of the total 6,70,206 MT arrivals, leaving 8,467 MT, which accounted for just 1.26 per cent of the total stocks, unsold.

While 2,97,429 MT of the procured wheat, which accounted for less than 44.95 per cent of the total purchased stock, has been lifted from the mandis, the rest 3,64,310 MT of the purchased grains, which accounted for 55.05 per cent of the total purchased wheat, were yet to be lifted from the grain markets.

However, Deputy Commissioner, Sakshi Sawhney, who has been reviewing the wheat procurement by visiting the mandis on a daily basis, told The Tribune, on Tuesday that the procured grains were supposed to be lifted within 72 hours of the purchase and under that time frame, almost 170 per cent of the wheat has already been lifted from the grain markets.

“In a record of sorts, the procurement agencies had lifted 44,700 MT of purchased wheat from the mandis within 24 hours. Though the lifting process is well in place and has been expedited, we are further accelerating it to avert any glut-like situation in the mandis as the progressive arrival has picked up exponentially this week,” Sakshi added.

The maximum price that the procured wheat has fetched was Rs 2,285 per quintal while Rs 2,275 per quintal has so far remained the minimum sale price in the district.

On the mustard front, the entire 2,600 hectares of the crop has already been harvested in the district.

Every grain to be procured: DC

“Procurement agencies have been asked to instantly lift all of their procured stocks from mandis to make space for fresh arrivals. We have made elaborate arrangements to ensure that farmers did not face any inconvenience. Besides swift procurement and lifting, we have also ensured quick payment of procured stocks with Rs 1,387 crore already paid to the peasants. We are committed to purchasing every grain arriving at the mandis and ensure instant purchase, payment and lifting to facilitate them,” said Sakshi Sawhney, DC.

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