This
year’s paddy harvesting is also around 20 per cent less compared to last year,
when prolonged rains delayed harvesting by around 10 days. This has been a
cause of concern for many farmers who have either stalled or are slowing down
harvests due to the lack of space in mandis across the state. This is despite
the crop ripening in the fields.
Punjab, which has around 1,852 grain markets
and typically converts several rice shellers into temporary mandi yards, is
facing serious issues with crop movement this year. Only 10.55 per
cent of the procured paddy has been lifted from mandis, leaving many full to
the brim. The situation is particularly dire in regions where farmers have no
space to unload their crops
Deepinder Singh, a farmer from Hazara
village in Jalandhar, who has around 50
Director of the Punjab Agriculture Department Jaswant Singh confirmed
that around 22 per cent of paddy has been harvested so far and it is
significantly lower than last year’s progress. “The pace of harvesting is quite
slow this time,” he added.
Sources in the Punjab Food and Civil Supplies
Department attributed the slow lifting of the crop to the lack of cooperation
from rice shellers, who have raised several demands with the government. “It’s difficult to move the procured grain out of
mandis without the cooperation from rice shellers. Over 5,000 shellers store
the entire government procured paddy in the state, and the rice used to go to
government godown after milling. But this year, the shellers have some demands,
and the government has not responded to them, which is leading to this
bottleneck,” said an official from the department.
Farmer leader Jagmohan Singh, general Secretary of
BKU (Dakaunda), said that as the situation drags on, farmers are growing
increasingly anxious about the delay as this would affect timely sowing of
wheat. “We are urging the
government to resolve the ongoing issues with rice shellers and avoid further
disruption to the agricultural cycle or else the government will be responsible
for the serious law and order issue in the state. “The delay in harvesting and
movement of the crop could also have broader economic implications for Punjab,
which relies heavily on its agricultural output. If the situation is not resolved soon, it may lead to additional
costs for both farmers and the state government in managing the glut of paddy
in the markets,” he said.
According
to the records of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs Department,
Punjab, by October 23, 2023, around 49 lakh tonne of paddy had arrived in the
mandis. However, this year till October 23, only 41 lakh tonne have reached
mandis, marking a shortfall of approximately nine lakh tonne compared to last
year. Punjab is expecting 185 lakh tonne paddy arrival in mandis this year.
In Tarn
Taran district, 5.50 lakh tonne of paddy arrived by October 23 last year,
whereas this year, only 3.40 lakh tonnes have reached the mandis in the same
time. Similarly, in Sangrur, only 1.46 lakh tonne of paddy have been brought to
the mandis till October 23, compared to over 2.50 lakh tonne during the same
period last year. In Gurdaspur, the arrival has also seen a significant drop,
with 50% less paddy arriving this year than last.
This decline in arrivals is being
attributed to slower paddy harvesting, primarily due to the massive glut in the
mandis,
which has led to farmers stalling or delaying their harvests, said a senior
officer in the Punjab Agriculture department.