By Gurpreet Singh Nibber

The teams will visit rice mills in Jagraon, Raikot and Khanna. The designated mills have been asked to arrange 20-30 tonnes of paddy for shelling in the presence of IIT teams.

Teams from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, will arrive in Punjab on Wednesday to evaluate the rice yield of freshly harvested paddy, especially short-duration PR126 and hybrid varieties.

This comes amid rice millers’ apprehensions about shelling paddy, especially those of hybrid varieties, as they claim that these are yielding 3-4 kilograms less than the permissible limit of 67% (or 67 kg rice grain from 100 kg paddy).

The teams will visit rice mills in Jagraon, Raikot and Khanna. The designated mills have been asked to arrange 20-30 tonnes of paddy for shelling in the presence of IIT teams.

The rice millers’ reluctance to shell paddy has hit procurement operations this kharif season, slowing down grain lifting and leading to a glut in the mandis. This has further led to farmers delaying harvesting. Due to the confusion, millers also delayed signing contracts with the state food and supplies department for shelling of paddy.

Earlier, during meetings with the Union food and public distribution minister Prahlad Joshi, rice millers had sought that teams from the Ministry be sent to assess the rice content in fresh paddy stocks reaching the mandis. The minister had clarified that IIT Kharagpur has been assigned the task.

Rice millers’ association president Tarsem Saini welcomed the move, stating that the outcome of the experiments will reveal the reality. However, he noted that it would have been better to conduct widespread tests to understand the situation better. According to him, the team is visiting one area around Ludhiana (central Punjab). “Also, it is to be seen from where the paddy for tests is procured,” Saini added.

Total arrivals touch 71.85 lakh tonnes

As of Tuesday, total paddy arrivals reached 71.85 lakh tonnes, with the single-day arrival of 5.96 lakh tonnes. Last year’s corresponding arrivals were 80.8 lakh tonnes, at least 9 lakh tonnes more. Last year’s peak arrival was on October 26 when 6.51 lakh tonnes of grain was received.

The state food department expects the arrivals to peak after Diwali on October 31, with a total produce of 185 lakh tonnes anticipated for central pool procurement.

So far, 32.6 lakh tonnes (45%) of the total arrivals have been lifted. According to officials of the state food department, the lifting is expected to pick up steam as they have signed contracts with the rice millers.

District-wise, Patiala tops the chart with 5.7 lakh tonnes of arrivals, followed by Ferozpur with 5.5 lakh tonnes and Tarn Taran with 5.2 lakh tonnes. Malerkotla, Ropar, and Barnala have seen slower arrivals, with 1.03 lakh tonnes, 1.12 lakh tonnes, and 1.13 lakh tonnes of paddy, respectively.

Published Date: October 30, 2024