Punjab expects bumper harvest, but storage woes loom large
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Chandigarh: Despite expectations of a favourable paddy crop this season in Punjab due to the early monsoon, concerns persist regarding adequate storage space for rice once procurement commences.
Given Punjab's decision to advance paddy cultivation this season by 15 days to June 1, the state govt has also urged the Centre to bring forward the paddy procurement schedule accordingly (from Sept 15) to prevent delays for farmers.
The state govt has emphasised the need to create space for an anticipated additional 120 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice in the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2025-26. To achieve this, Punjab has sought a consistent monthly movement of 10-12 LMT of rice to ensure approximately 40 LMT of available storage by Dec.
The issue was taken up during a meeting between Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Union food minister Pralhad Joshi in New Delhi Wednesday. Mann proposed a strategy of converting covered wheat godowns into rice storage, which he believes could free up an additional 7 LMT of capacity for KMS 2025-26. This model could be adopted nationwide to alleviate storage shortages, he suggested.
When contacted, B Srinivasan, GM of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in Punjab, said the FCI already achieved a significant rice movement of 80 LMT from last Oct to June, which was 50% higher than the previous year's trend.
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This momentum would continue in the coming months, he added.
The shortage of food grain storage space in Punjab has been a recurring problem, particularly after the kharif marketing season, as new paddy arrivals require immediate milling and subsequent storage as rice. This ongoing issue has led to calls from rice millers in the state for accelerated movement of rice out of Punjab and the development of new storage infrastructure.
During a Group of Ministers meeting on June 24 to discuss ways to ensure smooth paddy procurement, it was pointed out that efforts were under way to create additional storage capacity. The ministers were informed that 40 LMT of space would be available by Dec this year, with plans to expand this to approximately 82-83 LMT by the end of June next year.
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