Punjab procures 17.34 lakh basmati, 18% more than last year’s arrival

In 2021, Punjab had received 14.17 lakh tonnes (LT) of basmati and till November 24, only 9.01 LT arrived in the mandis.

While rates of the crop have come down a little compared to last week when farmers were selling it at Rs 2,665 to Rs 5,420 per quintal depending on the variety, now the minimum and maximum rates are Rs 2100 per quintal and Rs 4365. This is, however, still higher than last year when the maximum rate was Rs 4,075 per quintal during the same period.

Till November 24, Amritsar and Fazilka witnessed 49% arrival of the total basmati in the state. Amritsar saw the maximum arrival of the crop at 5.29 LT (30% of the total arrival), followed by Fazilka at 3.16 LTs arrival. Patiala, Tarn Taran, Sangrur and Gurdaspur districts received 1.77 LT, 1.59 LT, 1.55 LT and 1.11 LT basmati, respectively.

Firozpur received 66,239 tonnes, Muktsar Sahib recorded 58,124 tonnes, Faridkot got 51,946 tonnes, Mansa witnessed 44,721 tonnes, Ludhiana received 28,578 tonnes, Moga 13,071 tonnes, Kapurthala received 12,342 tonnes, Bathinda received 8,025 tonnes, Jalandhar got 4,856 tonnes, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar saw 2,849 tonnes, Mohali got 1,275 tonnes, Hoshiarpur got 226 tonnes, Pathankot received 125 tonnes, and Fateh Garh Shaib recorded 103 tonnes arrival.

Barnala and Rupnagar saw zero arrival of basmati.

In Punjab, 10 varieties of basmati crops are grown, including six recommended by Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, and four unrecommended.

This year 88.54% area is covered under recommended varieties including PUSA Basmati 1121, which covers 43% of the total basmati area this season, followed by Punjab Basmati 1718 under which 19.50 % area comes and PUSA Basmati 1509 variety, which is an early variety and covers 17.54% of basmati area. Also, 1509 is mainly grown in Amritsar (43.95% area of Basmati) and Tarn Taran (35.51% area) Districts of the Majha region of the state along with Ludhiana district of Malwa region where this variety covers 47.84% of district’s Basmati area. Apart from this 8.15% area was covered under Punjab Basmati 7. And 0.25% and 0.12% were covered under Sharabati and CSR 30, varieties, respectively.

While 11.46% area comes under unrecommended Basmati varieties including 6.61% under Mucchal/PUSA Basmati 1401, 4.77% under PUSA Basmati 1692, 0.06% and 0.02% under PUSA Basmati 1516 and Super Basmati 134, respectively.