Paddy procurement in Punjab has crossed 44 lakh tonne mark with mandis of Ferozepur division maintaining its lead.
According to an official spokesman by Tuesday, paddy procurement by six government agencies and traders reached 43,94,899 tonne in Punjab. He said PUNGRAIN procured 10,38,176 tonne of paddy (26.4%) whereas MARKFED procured 9,13,295 tonne of paddy (23.2%).
PUNSUP procured 9,12,884 tonne of paddy (23.2%) whereas Punjab State Warehousing Corporation procured 5, 27,115 tonne of paddy (13.4%) besides 4,94,909 tonne of paddy (12.6%) procured by Punjab Agro.
The Central government agency FCI procured only 52,998 tonne of paddy (1.3%). The millers procured 4, 55,522 tonne of paddy (10.4 %) by Tuesday.
The mandis in Amritsar Division recorded 14,66,327 tonnes of paddy with Kapurthala recording maximum procurement by Tuesday to the tune of 3, 42,316 tonne.
The mandis of Ferozepur division recorded 22,56,862 tonne of paddy with procurement of maximum of 8,55,269 tonne of paddy being recorded by Ferozepur district.
Six government agencies have paid over Rs 2391.7 crores for paddy procured by agencies during first 15 days of current kharif marketing season.
The spokesman said farmers of the state were being paid for the procurement by the government agencies within 48 hours of lifting of paddy from the procurement centres. The Punjab Food Supply had set up 1,622 procurement centres throughout the state to ensure smooth procurement of paddy.