Agriculture

With winter mist descending from skies, unsold paddy in Punjab’s mandis begins to rot

It’s been almost two months since the unsold paddy is lying at Punjab's wholesale markets
With winter mist descending from skies, unsold paddy in Punjab’s mandis begins to rot
Due to the slow pace of procurement, Punjab’s markets have been witnessing heaps of paddy which the farmers have brought from their fields. Photographs by Vikas Choudhary
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Hundreds of farmers are braving chilly winds at hundreds of mandis in Punjab as they wait the procurement process to begin.

The farmers are caught up in a tussle between the state and the central governments and they risk losses if their harvest rots under open skies.

With winter mist descending from skies, unsold paddy in Punjab’s mandis begins to rot
The procurement process began on October 1, but it has been sluggish from the start. Due to the slow pace of procurement, Punjab’s markets have been witnessing heaps of paddy which the farmers have brought from their fields.

The farmer organisations have held several protests since October but the issue of procurement continues to be in a state of logjam.

Punjab
paddy procurement
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