The Punjab government has advanced paddy procurement, moving the commencement date from October 1 to September 15, announced chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday.
Speaking in his home constituency of Dhuri, Mann stated that the decision was taken to curb “blackmailing” related to moisture content.
“For early start of procurement by the state government, we have written to the Centre’s minister of food and PDS to make early arrangements,” said minister for food and civil supplies Lal Chand Kataruchak. The Centre has a role in arranging cash credit limit (CCL) for purchase of crop and gunny bales for storage.
Farmers, however, argue the move is “totally impractical”, given the actual harvest schedule and unaddressed pricing concerns.
Mann explained that the traditional October 1 procurement often found the crop retaining moisture, leading to disputes over moisture meter readings and similar practices.
But this reason has failed to convince the farming community.
Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of BKU Ekta Ugrahan, said, “Paddy is not picked in September. The short-term varieties are also sown late. They will be ready in October. Early harvest might be possible with ‘sathha paddy’ (matures in 60 days), which is hardly used now.”
Kulwinder Singh, an active farmer from Nadampur village of Sangrur and former president of the Punjab Students’ Union (PSU), termed the government’s decision entirely unfeasible. “Even the short-term varieties like PR 126 will be ready only by late September to early October,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Kulwinder Singh, an active farmer from Nadampur village of Sangrur and former president of the Punjab Students’ Union (PSU), termed the government’s decision entirely unfeasible. “Even the short-term varieties like PR 126 will be ready only by late September to early October,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He also raised concerns over the government not clearing the procurement rate, drawing a parallel to the lack of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for maize and moong.
An agricultural expert further stated that the PUSA variety cannot possibly arrive by September 15: “It cannot mature by the government’s stated time, as many farmers have sown PUSA 44, a variety banned by the Punjab government, which is a long duration variety of paddy.”
The government-approved paddy varieties are PR 126, PR 128, PR 131 and PR 129. The duration from transplanting to maturity for PR 126 is 93 days, PR 128 takes 110 days, PR 131 takes 110 days and PR 129 takes 108 days. In comparison, the PUSA variety requires 125 days after transplanting to reach maturity.
Notably, this year, the Punjab government had also advanced the date of paddy transplantation from June 20 to June 1. However, majority of farmers started transplanting paddy only in July.