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Wheat procurement begins on slow note in southwest Punjab
As day’s temperature has started rising, we expect harvesting to pick up in 2-3 days: Bathinda mandi officer
Wheat purchase began on a slow note in Bathinda, the largest rabi-growing area of southwest Punjab, on Monday even as harvesting of the crop is yet to gain momentum in the region.
According to information gathered from different districts, most grain markets across the semi-arid region lacked much purchase activity on Monday. Officials attribute the delay in harvesting to unseasonal spells of rain and hope harvesting will scale up by this weekend.
Bathinda district mandi officer Gurvidner Singh said on the first day of purchase on Monday, 48-tonne wheat was procured by government agencies.
“We have recorded an arrival of 1,919-tonne wheat at 232 mandis and temporary purchase yards in the district so far. As the day’s temperature has started rising, we expect harvesting to pick up in the next two to three days. All arrangements are in place for smooth purchase of the produce,” he said.
Wheat grower Jagdev Singh from the district’s Katar Singhwala village said on Monday, his crop recorded a moisture content of 11% that was within the optimum level despite untimely rain. “Luckily, our region did not face much impact of weather. But farmers in several other parts of the state fear losses due to untimely showers,” he said.
Muktsar chief agriculture officer (CAO) Gurpreet Singh said the district had hardly seen wheat harvesting and it may commence later this week.
“Muktsar is among the worst-hit districts after the downpour and hailstorm. Crop loss assessment is underway, and exact loss of yield can’t be predicted before girdawari,” he added.
As per Punjab mandi board data, Muktsar recorded arrival of only 210-tonne wheat while less than 70-tonne wheat reached Moga mandis. In Ferozepur, farmers have brought only 900-tonne produce to mandis and Fazilka has reported arrival of about 900-tonne wheat.
Mansa district recorded an arrival of 8,200-tonne wheat whereas only 40 tonne were purchased. CAO Satpal Singh said the arrival trend indicated slow harvesting.
“A central team visited Mansa on Sunday to collect samples. At this stage, the moisture content in unprocessed wheat may be higher due to the impact of rain and farmers should bring in dried crop,” said the official.
Moga CAO Manjit Singh said the random moisture level of fresh stock was measured at 14% and farmers are being advised to keep wheat in the open to bring down moisture content.
“Harvesting is going on at a slow pace as farms are drying up. As the region has witnessed bright days, we hope harvesting will gain momentum from this week,” he added.
Meanwhile, on Monday, 60,000-tonne grain arrived in state mandis, which took the total arrivals to 82,000 tonnes. Procurement in the state started in 1,872 mandis on April 1. The arrivals in the current season are way behind the last year’s corresponding arrivals of 5.75-lakh tonne wheat. This season, rain, hailstorm and winds during the maturing stage damaged the crop and also delayed harvesting. The arrivals so far have been reported in Nawanshahr, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Muktsar, Faridkot, Moga, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Mohali mandis.
