CHANDIGARH: A severe storage crisis is looming in Punjab ahead of the paddy procurement season beginning October 1, with a backlog of 280 lakh tonnes of food grains occupying state godowns, rice mills and mandi yards.
The state government is set to open 1,832 mandis for paddy procurement, but limited storage space has raised concerns over the smooth purchase and lifting of the new crop.
The total storage capacity is 180 lakh tonnes, whereas the existing food grain stock exceeds 275 lakh tonnes.
The current inventory includes 155 lakh tonnes of accumulated rice from the past three seasons, while another 10 lakh tonnes of paddy from the last season is waiting to be milled, which will contribute an estimated 6 lakh tonnes of rice to the existing stockpile. This comprises 9 lakh tonnes from 2023-24, 58 lakh tonnes from 2024-25 and 83 lakh tonnes from 2025-26. The godowns also hold 116 lakh tonnes of wheat. This severe shortage has forced agencies to utilise rice mills and mandi yards for storage.
Due to the storage shortage, last year’s kharif procurement delayed crop lifting, and the upcoming season will be even more challenging, said an official of the state Food Supplies Department. Driven by a bumper paddy crop, the Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution has set a target for the procurement of 180 lakh tonnes from the state this season.
The godowns across Punjab are already choked with around 180 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of rice from the previous three procurement seasons, while covered and plinth (CAP) storage facilities with a capacity of 60 LMT are also full.
Sources said that the pace of lifting food grains from the state needs to nearly double to 20 lakh tonnes per month to prevent complete gridlock. To avert a crisis, the rice industry has urgently demanded that at least 50 lakh tonnes of additional storage space be cleared by December 31.
Sources in the state Food and Civil Supplies Department said that the entire paddy crop will be handed over to rice mills to be shelled, as there are 5,500 mills in the state and they are allocated paddy according to their milling capacity. There are 1,500 rice mills in the state which store rice and wheat from previous seasons, and the stocks are waiting to be lifted by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for transportation to the consuming states.
Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said that the government is all set to purchase paddy from farmers from October 1, as all arrangements have been put in place. The central government has set the minimum support price for paddy at Rs 2,461 per quintal for the current season.
“Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had raised the issue of evacuating grain stocks with the Union Government and presently the department is making use of the state’s existing infrastructure,” he said.
Kataruchak said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sanctioned Rs 50,337.68 crore for crop procurement, out of which Rs 42,786.68 crore has already been credited to state accounts for October purchases, while the remaining Rs 7,550 crore is scheduled for release in November. Additionally, more than 5 lakh gunny bags have been arranged to pack the crop.
With paddy cultivated across 32.7 lakh hectares, the state Agriculture Department expects the total yield to surpass 210 lakh tonnes.
Representatives of the Punjab Rice Industry Association had already warned that massive bottlenecks threaten to paralyse operations across mandis and rice mills if old foodgrain stocks are not cleared immediately.
“Millers are ready to extend full cooperation and handle around 180 lakh tonnes of new paddy. However, our biggest concern is where adequate space will be made available for storing the resulting rice and delivering it to the FCI,” said Bharat Bhushan Binta, president of the association.
Vice-president of the association, Ranjit Singh Jossan, said the state required an annual movement of approximately 245 lakh tonnes of foodgrain (120 lakh tonnes of wheat procurement and 125 lakh tonnes of rice delivery), but at present lifting was restricted to just 11 to 13 lakh tonnes per month.
