Punjab buys 7.5 lakh tonnes of paddy as storage crunch looms at harvest peak

Punjab's paddy procurement is gathering pace as the harvest reaches its peak, with storage space emerging as the main worry. By Wednesday, October 7, 2026, about 8.50 lakh tonnes of paddy had arrived in the state's grain markets, of which about 7.50 lakh tonnes had been bought by government agencies, Punjab minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said. Arrivals have been rising quickly: 3.83 lakh tonnes had reached markets by October 5 and 6.23 lakh tonnes by October 6. The state is buying at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,461 per quintal against a season target of 180 lakh tonnes, and the procurement season runs until mid-November. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had warned earlier in the month that old stocks of wheat and rice still lying in mills and market yards could leave too little room for the new crop, and had said arrivals were expected to peak around October 10.

With a target of 180 lakh tonnes, Punjab's paddy purchase is one of the largest farm procurement operations of the season. For farmers, the key question each season is whether their crop is bought quickly at the MSP and whether payment arrives on time. The early figures show agencies buying most of what arrives and paying directly into bank accounts.

The weak point is storage. Paddy that is bought has to be milled into rice, and that rice has to be stored and then moved out of the state. If last season's wheat and rice are still occupying mills and market yards, the new paddy has nowhere to go. That can slow down purchases, leave heaps of grain in open markets, and leave farmers waiting for days to sell. The chief minister's appeal to the Centre to move 15 lakh tonnes of wheat and 6 lakh tonnes of rice out of Punjab is aimed at preventing that bottleneck.

The coming days will be the real test. With the peak of arrivals expected around October 10 and a season target of 180 lakh tonnes, the volumes still to come are many times what has been bought so far. How fast stocks are lifted from the state will decide whether procurement keeps up with the harvest.

Short-term: Farmers bringing paddy to markets during the peak are being bought out at MSP, but any delay in lifting old stocks could slow purchases and payments.

Long-term: Repeated storage crunches point to the need for more storage capacity and faster movement of grain out of Punjab, so that each harvest does not depend on clearing the last one.

Who is affected: Paddy farmers in Punjab, commission agents and rice millers, procurement agencies, and the central agencies responsible for moving stored grain out of the state.

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