E-Paper
Punjab’s wheat arrivals touch 100 lakh tonnes
With arrival of 5
With arrival of 5.07 lakh tonnes of freshly harvested wheat on Thursday, the total arrivals in Punjab mandis have crossed 100 lakh tonnes.
Despite a late start due to delay in maturing of crop, the arrivals have surpassed last year’s corresponding figure of 94.77 lakh tonnes.
In 2022, a total of 104.5 lakh tonnes were procured during the rabi season. However, as per the estimates of the state food and civil supplies department, it is expected to touch 125 lakh tonnes this year.
Wheat harvest was delayed due to spells of rainfall, hailstorm and winds in March when crop was at maturing stage, leading lodging of crop over 40% of the total 34.9 lakh tonnes of wheat-sown area.
The four state-run food grain procurement agencies – Pungrain, Punsup, Markfed and the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation – and Centre’s Food Corporation of India (FCI) have purchased a total of 99.56 lakh tonnes. The lifting of crop, however, is proceeding at a snail’s pace, with 58.09 lakh tonnes still waiting to be moved from mandis to storage godowns.
A sum of ₹2,125 per quintal is being offered as minimum support price (MSP) to the wheat growers, and a total payment of ₹15,167.38 crore has been released.
In terms of arrivals so far, Sangrur district tops the chart with 10 lakh tonnes, followed by Patiala with 8.5 lakh tonnes, Ferozepur and Ludhiana 7 lakh tonnes each, Bathinda 6.7 lakh tonnes, Muktsar 6.2 lakh tonnes, Tarn Taran 6 lakh tonnes, Moga 5.8 lakh tonnes, Mansa and Fazilka 5 lakh tonnes each, Amritsar 4.3 lakh tonnes and Gurdaspur 4 lakh tonnes. Rupnagar and Mohali districts account for 1.3 lakh tonnes each.
Pathankot district is on the bottom with arrivals so far totalling 37,500 tonnes.
According to agriculture director Gurvinder Singh, around 85% harvest was complete and estimated total production was expected to touch 170 lakh tonnes as harvesting comes to a close by next week.
Districts where harvest has been completed include Bathinda, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Mansa and Barnala, while in Fazilka, Gurdarpur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala 50% harvest is pending. In Amritsar and Tarn Taran, 75% harvest is done.
