Punjab:5k millers allocated paddy for storage

As many as 4,800 (approx) rice millers have been registered in Punjab and allocated paddy by the state govt agencies for storage under joint custody and milling, Union minister of state for agriculture Ramnath Thakur said in his written reply tabled in Lok Sabha, on Tuesday, to questions by Punjab Lok Sabha members Sher Singh Ghubaya and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

To make additional storage capacity available for receipt/storage of rice after milling of current crop of paddy, measures like prioritising movement of wheat stocks kept in covered godowns in the state, hiring of additional storage capacity, additional outward movement of rice from Punjab, are being adopted.The minister also stated that a study has been entrusted to IIT Kharagpur on issues related to lesser out-turn ratio of rice from certain new hybrid varieties of paddy grown in Punjab.

As per the data prepared by state govt, 173 lakh MT paddy has been procured in the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2024-25 against a target of 185 LMT. Out of this, FCI has procured 1,45,794 MT (0.84% and traders procured 34798 MT (0.20%). Last year the agency had procured only 37,323 (0.20%) and traders bought 58,549 MT (.32%) of the total procurement of over 185LMT.

The minister further stated that 169 LMT paddy had been procured at minimum support price (MSP) by the state govt procuring agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) through Arhtiyas against the reported arrival of 171 LMT in the mandis till Nov 27, 2024. In addition to 1,823 regular notified mandis, 951 public places cum temporary yards and 475 rice mills cum temporary yards have been made operational by the state govt for paddy procurement at MSP.

Ghubaya and Randhawa had sought to know if the central govt was aware of the ongoing paddy procurement crisis in Punjab and the steps taken by the govt to resolve it.

This article has been republished from The Times of India.