Despite a delayed monsoon, Punjab surpassed the target of procurement of 140 lakh MT of paddy during the current kharif marketing season, with the government agencies and private millers procuring 140.70 lakh MT of paddy till last evening.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesman of the Chief Minister’s Office said 140.70 lakh MT of paddy had already been procured so far, compared with 131.27 lakh MT procured during the last season, despite late arrival of the crop due to adverse weather conditions and late sowing of paddy.
Out of total procurement of 140.70 lakh MT in all the procurement centres of the state, government agencies procured 137.52 lakh MT (97.7 per cent) till date whereas private traders procured 3.18 lakh MT (2.3 per cent). Till November 25, Pungrain had procured 40.97 lakh MT (29.8 per cent) whereas Markfed procured 28.40 lakh MT (20.7 per cent). Punsupprocured 31.52 lakh MT (22.9 per cent), Punjab State Warehousing Corporation procured 16.80 lakh MT (12.2 per cent) whereas Punjab Agro Industries Corporation was able to procure 13.11 lakh MT (9.5 per cent) of paddy.
The central government agency FCI had procured 6.69 lakh MT (4.9 per cent). Besides, 99 per cent of due lifting had been done and 95 per cent of due payment to the tune of Rs 13,996.70 crore had been made to the farmers.
The spokesman added that Sangrur district with 17.10 lakh MT of procurement was leading in procurement operations whereas Ludhiana with 16.70 lakh MT of procurement was at second slot. Patiala, with 13.38 lakh MT of procurement, ranked third.
The state government had set up nearly 1,600 procurement centres and activated its entire machinery to ensure smooth procurement of 140.70 lakh MT of paddy, the spokesman added.