Punjab: 10% damaged grain allowed as procurement norms eased; move too late, say farmers

The move by the Centre, which has come after repeated reminders by the state government, has no meaning particularly for peasantry when they have already incurred loss of ₹50 to ₹500 per quintal, according to paddy growers, arhtiyas and state food officials.

Nearly a month after experts from the Centre took samples of damaged and discoloured paddy harvested in the current kharif marketing season, the Union ministry of food and public distribution on Tuesday allowed relaxation in procurement norms by allowing purchase of produce with up to 10% discoloured and damaged grain, from 5%.

Representational image (HT)

The move by the Centre, which has come after repeated reminders by the state government, has no meaning particularly for peasantry when they have already incurred loss of ₹50 to ₹500 per quintal, according to paddy growers, arhtiyas and state food officials. The total runs into thousands of crores, they say.

The relaxation has arrived when the majority of the crop – 150 lakh tonnes — has already been procured till date and just about 10 lakh tonne more is expected to arrive for procurement in the state’s mandis. “Based on the analysis of paddy samples collected by the joint team between October 13 and 17, the relaxation in uniform paddy specifications allows an increase in the limit for discoloured, damaged, sprouted and weevilled grains to up to 10%, compared to the existing limit of 5% subject to the condition that the damaged, sprouted and weevilled grains do not exceed 4%,” reads a demi official letter received by state’s food and civil supplies department, the nodal agency for food grains procurement in the state.

According to Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Balbir Singh Rajewal, the relaxation is of no use now when farmers have already suffered heavy losses. This season the paddy crop has suffered severe damages due to floods and incessant rainfall in the month of August and September. Crop over nearly 3 lakh acres was completely damaged. In the rest of the state, there is a fall in the yield by 10% to 15% and the grain quality has also suffered, he said.

It’s illogical, say rice millers

The directions reiterated that the relaxations may be accorded without any value cut in the entire state (Punjab) and Chandigarh (UT) only for the current crop year KMS 2025-26, subject to the conditions that no relaxation in the uniform specification of custom milled rice (CMR) out of paddy procured under relaxed specifications may be allowed and no relaxation will be allowed in the Out Turn Ratio (OTR) of the paddy procured under relaxed specifications.

“The relaxation by the central government is surprising and contradictory. On one hand, the government has relaxed the paddy procurement norms allowing up to 10% damage, discoloration and immature grains but denied any exemption for rice mills,” said Ranjit Singh Jossan, vice president of the rice millers’ association.

The rice millers termed the directions as illogical as they said the government was asking them to produce rice meeting 5% damage standards from paddy allowed with 10% damage and discoloration. The same letter also clarifies that this relaxation will not affect the Out Turn Ratio (OTR) or CMR standards, which remain unchanged at 67% and 3/3 damage-discolour norms, they said. “The directions are impractical and unfair to rice millers,” said Vijay Kalra, president of the arhtiyas association, Punjab, adding that the state government has failed to take up the matter with the Centre.

“We strongly urge the central government to reconsider and extend proportionate relaxation for rice produced from such paddy. Furthermore, with paddy yield in Punjab already down by about 25% this year, the Centre must dispatch teams to physically verify the OTR situation in the state and allow appropriate exemptions to protect both farmers and millers,” said Jossan.

A total of 152.8 lakh tonne of paddy reached the mandis throughout the state till November 10. Out of this, 150.35 lakh tonne has been procured and so far more than ₹34,000 crore has been paid to the farmers as crop payment.