Why Punjab is staring at grain jam: Storage meant for paddy occupied by wheat

Punjab faces an unusual storage crisis as wheat occupies space meant for paddy in rice mills ahead of the paddy procurement season. Nearly 12 lakh metric tonnes of wheat is taking up room in rice mills across the state, raising concerns about where they will store the expected paddy arriving from October 1. Another 1.83 lakh metric tonnes of Central pool wheat procured by state agencies remains in mandi yards.

Rice mills are designed to receive paddy, mill it into rice and hand it over to government agencies, but the state's persistent storage shortage has led procurement agencies to use rice mill space to store wheat during the April-May procurement cycle for the past few years. This year, however, the overlapping procurement cycles have created a problem as both wheat from the previous season and new paddy are expected.

Millers have reported struggling to accommodate the wheat stocks, with some having over 50,000 bags of wheat in their mills. Government agencies have increasingly used rice mill space for wheat storage instead of leaving it vacant after the paddy season, but this space is needed again when paddy starts arriving. The pressure is not limited to rice mills, as nearly four dozen mandi yards and storage locations hold Central pool wheat stocks, with a combined quantity of 1.83 lakh metric tonnes.

These stocks are spread across various districts, and paddy arrival at these locations is expected to start from September 20 onwards. The quick turnover of wheat and paddy in Punjab's procurement system means that wheat occupying storage space reduces the buffer available to absorb paddy arrivals, leading to a potential glut in mandi yards.