Punjab, Haryana procure nearly 205 lakh tonne paddy

Chandigarh Nov 2 (IANS) Agrarian states Punjab and Haryana have procured nearly 205 lakh tonne of paddy this season so far Food and Supplies Department officials said here on Thursday.

Punjab has procured over nearly 144 lakh tonne of paddy while in Haryana nearly 61 lakh tonne has been procured.

Punjab is all set to set an all-time record of procuring over 182 lakh tonne of paddy this season. It had procured over 168 lakh tonne of paddy in a bumper crop season last year.

The paddy arrival in Haryana is much higher than the 53 lakh tonne paddy that arrived in grain markets in the corresponding period of last year.

Government agencies have procured 98 per cent of the paddy arriving in grain markets in Punjab. In Haryana government agencies have procured nearly 95 per cent of the paddy arrivals. The rest of the paddy has been procured by rice millers and traders.

The procurement of paddy began in both states on October 1. The paddy arrival and procurement will continue till the end of November.

The Reserve Bank of India has sanctioned an amount of nearly Rs 28 263 crore to Punjab to make payments to farmers for the paddy while the state government had sought over Rs 33 800 crore this Kharif season.

Both states are expecting a bumper crop this year and officials said that this could be nearly 230 lakh tonnes this season.

--IANS
js/vd