At 127.6 lakh tonnes, wheat arrivals in Punjab mandis surpass last yr’s procurement figures

By Gurpreet Singh Nibber

With 127.61 lakh tonnes of wheat having arrived in Punjab’s mandis till Thursday (May), the figures have already surpassed last year’s total procurement of 125.87 lakh tonnes.

Last year, on the corresponding day, the total arrival had stood at 123.20 lakh tonnes. This time, the state is expecting a bumper crop with the total production expected to touch 175 lakh tonnes.

The single-day arrivals that peaked to more than 12 lakh tonnes 10 days ago have now tapered down to less than one lakh tonnes. On Thursday, 93,000 tonnes of wheat arrived in the state mandis.

The arrivals have fallen below 5,000 tonnes in districts of the Malwa belt, while it is nearly 10,000 tonnes in the Majha belt.So far, 88.39 lakh tonnes have been lifted and 38.94 lakh tonnes remain to be lifted. The food and civil supplies department aims to procure 135 lakh tonnes, more than its original target of 130 lakh tonnes.

This time, wheat was sown over 35.08 lakh hectares (86 lakh acres). “This procurement season has been very short due to late arrivals, owing to late harvesting. It started on April 18 and within 20 days, the entire procurement is nearly complete,” said director, food and civil supplies, Puneet Goyal.

Owing to dipping buffer stocks, the Centre has mandated Punjab to procure 132 lakh tonnes. What Punjab needs is more storage space and faster movement of grain to consuming states. “We are transporting stocks to consuming states to make space for the freshly procured wheat,” said an official of the food and civil supplies department.

In the wake of the shortage of space, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has allowed the food and civil supplies department to store wheat in the open, known as covered area plinths (CAP).

This article has been republished from The Hindustan Times