Paddy procurement: 98% crop purchased, Rs 3,042-cr paid to farmers

The paddy procurement has entered its final leg with almost 98 per cent of the total arrival already been purchased, over 73 per cent lifted and the farmers paid Rs 3,042-crore for their crop in Ludhiana till Wednesday, official figures have revealed.

With almost 81 per cent of the total procured paddy already lifted from across 146 mandis (grain markets), including 38 temporary yards, under 13 market committees in the district during the past 72 hours, the lifting of crop has also picked up pace.

However, the private purchase of paddy has failed to pick up with the commission agents (arhtiyas) procuring mere 0.02 per cent of the total procured foodgrains despite the government’s assurance to increase their commission.

Claiming that the situation has finally streamlined during the past ten days, the District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC), Geeta Bishambu told The Tribune here on Thursday that lifting has picked up pace with over 73 per cent of the total procured paddy already been cleared from the mandis.

She said the district administration in close coordination with the Food and Civil Supplies department and the four state-owned procurement agencies had been ensuring swift procurement and before time payments to the farmers for their procured stocks.

“We have been able to purchase almost 98 per cent of the total paddy that had arrived in our mandis so far and have paid up to 101 per cent of the payments due to the peasants,” Geeta shared.

She disclosed that 13,78,333 MT of the total arrived 14,10,597.1 MT paddy had been procured in the district while Rs 3,041.7 crore had already been paid to the farmers, which was almost 101 per cent of Rs 3,025.4 crore payment due within 48 hours of purchase.

On the lifting front, 10.10,411.6 MT of the procured 13,78,333 MT paddy had been lifted from the mandis, which comprised 80.7 per cent of 12,52,169 MT stocks due to be lifted within the last 72 hours of the purchase.

On Wednesday, 37,738.7 MT of more paddy arrived in the mandis, while 33,284.1 MT was purchased and 46,833 MT was lifted during the day.

Barring 341.5 MT paddy purchased by the arhtiyas, the rest of the stocks had been procured by Pungrain, Markfed, Punsup, and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC).

However, the Central agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) has also not purchased a single grain in the district. The DFSC detailed that of the total 497 rice shellers in the district, 493 had applied for storage, 492 had already been allotted stocks after they had signed the agreements for storage and milling of procured paddy. “Since the godowns have been gradually cleared of the milled rice of the previous season, the lifting has finally picked up pace,” she added.

Besides the parmal variety of paddy, 40,905 MT of basmati rice had also arrived and fully procured in the district till Wednesday. The growers had fetched as high as Rs 3,145 per quintal and as low as Rs 2,670 per quintal for the basmati so far.

On the harvesting front, 2,44,491 hectares, which accounted for 95.3 per cent of the total 2,56,500 hectares of area under paddy in the district, had been harvested so far.

According to the data compiled by the Agriculture department, Ludhiana block had harvested 12,408 of 13,200 hectares of paddy, Mangat 29,664 of 30,900 hectares, Pakhowal 20,516 of 22,300 hectares, Sudhar 27,744 of 28,900 hectares, Jagraon 29,735 of 31,300 hectares, Sidhwan Bet 31,635 of 33,300 hectares, Khanna 19,306 of 19,600 hectares, Doraha 17,766 of 18,900 hectares, Dehlon 19,095 of 20,100 hectares, Samrala 13,677 of 14,100 hectares, and Machhiwara had reaped 22,944 of total 23,900 hectares area under paddy till date.