Farmers Movement Archive

Despite farm protests, paddy arrival picks up in grain mkts

PATIALA: Even as the farmers of Punjab are actively participating in the agitation across the state, the arrival of paddy in most grain markets has not been affected so far, though farmer unions are expecting a slowdown in paddy harvesting in the coming week. On the contrary, the grain markets in Patiala, Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts have seen a jump in both arrival and procurement of paddy compared to the corresponding period last year. However, there is some impact of agitation on the grain markets in Sangrur. In Patiala, 85,788 MT paddy arrival was recorded till Saturday, of which 70,409 MT has been procured. Last year, 8,881 MT of paddy had arrived till October 3, of which 3,201 MT had been procured. Patiala district mandi officer (DMO) Ajaypal said the arrivals have jumped more than 800 times over 2019. In Ropar, 14,572 MT paddy had arrived till Saturday, of which 14,532 has been procured, according to the District Mandi Board officials. Last year, only 587 MT of paddy produce had arrived till October 3. Similarly, in Fatehgarh Sahib, 13,630 MT of paddy has arrived in the grain markets, of which 11,056 MT has been procured, whereas only 1,499 MT paddy had arrived till this time last year. However, in Sangrur grain markets, only 1,693 MT paddy has arrived, of which 1,160 MT has been purchased, whereas last year the arrival till October 3 was 2,814 MT. DMO Jaspal Singh Ghumman said the paddy arrival might have been affected due to a slowdown in harvesting as the farmers are busy with the agitation. BKU (Ekta-Dakaunda) general secretary Jagmohan Singh Patiala said, “We have intensified our agitation against the agriculture bills. Till now, the farmers’ protest has not been affected due to paddy harvesting, though the government started procurement earlier this year. However, in the coming week, the agitation may witness a decline due to harvesting. We are planning how to manage both agitation and harvesting.”

The Times of India

2020-10-04

Chandigarh