Rain slows down wheat lifting in Punjab mandis
: The fresh spell of rain has slowed down the lifting of wheat from Punjab mandis, which was already going on at a snail’s pace. Out of the 115.77 lakh tonnes of wheat that arrived in the mandis of the state by Monday evening, 51.27 lakh tonne (44%) awaits to be lifted.
The produce kept in the open in mandis is exposed to the vagaries of weather. A large quantity of freshly harvested crop has already suffered damages due to delayed rainfall, winds and hailstorm that started on March 25 when the wheat was at its maturing stage, leading to a higher quantity of shriveled, broken and discoloured grain. The Centre’s department of food and public distribution has allowed relaxation in the damaged grain with a value cut, but the Bhagwant Mann government in the state has announced to own the loss and farmers are getting full payment for their produce without a value cut.
The state’s four procurement agencies -- Pungrain, Punsup, Markfed and warehousing corporation -- besides the Centre’s Food Corporation of India have purchased the entire quantity that had arrived in the mandis.
“However, the lifting remains an issue. We are trying to evacuate the stocks,” said an officer in the state food and civil supplies department, adding that ₹18,000 crore has been disbursed to the farmers against minimum support price of ₹2,125 fixed by the commission for agricultural costs and prices.
On Tuesday, 1.98 lakh tonnes wheat arrived in the mandis. The arrivals that touched a peak of 6.5 lakh tonnes last week, are plummeting.
“It has been raining for the last three days which daily pushes the lifting by two days. April has already seen three spells of rain,” said an officer in the state food department. The lifting is expected to pick pace after the current weather conditions end.
Glut-like situation
It is a glut-like situation in the mandis of Punjab as between April 13 and 30, 100 lakh tonnes of wheat has arrived in the grain markets. Arrivals of five lakh tonnes each day is difficult to handle, said an officer. The arrivals were sudden as crop suffered lodging due to rainfall and it took time to recover.
So far, the department has moved 10.8 lakh tonnes of harvested wheat to consumer states. On Tuesday, 1,919 rakes (50,000 tonnes of wheat) were loaded for transporting grain out of Punjab.