Ferozpur district leads in paddy procurement in Punjab

Chandigarh, Oct 10 (UNI) The border district of Ferozepur in Punjab which experienced a good monsoon, was leading in paddy procurement this season with 8.76 lakh tonnes having being procured so far by the government agencies and private traders.

Mohali was lagging behind with just 13,587 tonnes being procured till yesterday out of the total arrival figure of 40.72 lakh tonnes in the state mandis.

Giving details of procurement, Food and Supplies minister Lal Singh today said that 7.34 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured by Pungrain so far, followed by 6.82 lakh tonnes by Markfed. Punsup was leading with 8,50 lakh tonnes being procured while Punjab State Warehoursing Corporation had procured 4.15 lakh tonnes and Punjab Agro Industries Corporation 44,3096.

FCI had so far procured 1.59 lakh tonnes while the private millers in state had procured 7.86 lakh tonnes till yesterday.

The minister said that he was optimistic of a bumper crop even though the area under paddy had been reduced after farmers were persuaded to go in for crop diversification to break the wheat-paddy rotation that had depleted groundwater resources in Punjab.

UNI HS VD RN1628