Chandigarh, October 25, 2024: Vikramjit Singh Sahney, a Rajya Sabha member from the Aam Aadmi Party, has reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for urgent intervention regarding the slow paddy procurement in Punjab, a situation that has raised major concern among farmers.
In his letter, Sahney said that rice millers have outright refused to collect paddy due to a lack of storage space, stemming from the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) failure to lift the grain. “After the government’s intervention, 3,000 out of 5,000 rice millers have stepped up to procure paddy, but the lack of storage space remains a critical issue,” he stated.
Stressing Punjab’s vital role in national food security, Sahney noted, “Punjab has been the largest contributor of paddy to the central pool for decades.” This year, farmers in the state produced an impressive 180 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, yet 120 lakh metric tonnes from the previous year remain stored in warehouses. He attributed this backlog largely to the government’s ban on the export of non-basmati rice, which led to an accumulation of paddy.
“Additionally, the government did not procure a major amount of rice last year for the Public Distribution System (PDS), further contributing to the surplus in warehouses,” Sahney wrote, pointing out that only 10 lakh tonnes of rice have been lifted so far this season.
Despite the official procurement process commencing on October 1, Sahney lamented that farmers continue to face severe challenges in selling their paddy. “It has been 24 days since the procurement began, yet farmers are still struggling to sell their paddy. Poor farmers are becoming collateral damage in this crisis and are suffering the most,” he added.
