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

Punjab is facing a unique storage challenge as nearly 12 lakh metric tonnes of wheat occupies space meant for paddy in rice mills ahead of the procurement season. This issue arises from the state's chronic grain-storage problem, where government agencies have increasingly used rice-mill space to store wheat after procurement instead of leaving it vacant.

The overlapping of two procurement cycles, paddy from October 1 and Central pool wheat procured for the Food Corporation of India (FCI), threatens to exacerbate the situation, as the two periods of activity could lead to a glut in mandi yards. If the wheat is not cleared in time, it could hinder the procurement and storage of paddy, which arrives in Punjab in a concentrated timeframe during the peak season.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.