Punjab Struggles with Safe Rice Storage Crisis
01-Aug-2025 04:25 PM
Chandigarh. Punjab, the state that contributes the most food grains to the central pool, is facing a serious crisis of safe storage of rice, while this problem is expected to increase further in the coming months.
The transplantation of paddy in Punjab is almost over and its harvesting will begin in October. After this, Food Corporation of India (FCI) will start getting a strong supply of custom milled rice (CMR) from rice millers, but there will be a shortage of space in the state's warehouses to store that rice.
In view of this, the Chief Minister of Punjab has urged the Central Government to extend the official paddy procurement season by a fortnight.
Usually, government procurement of paddy starts in Punjab from October 1, while this time the Chief Minister has urged to start the procurement process from September 15 itself because this time paddy cultivation in the state had started before the scheduled time.
According to informed sources, there is a shortage of space in the warehouses of Punjab. When the arrival of the new crop of paddy starts, then the government will have to face a serious challenge of storing rice. A similar situation had arisen last year when paddy could not be stored properly due to lack of storage facilities.
It is worth mentioning that Punjab has the facility to store 220 lakh tonnes of grains including covered and open plinth, whereas at present all these godowns are full of foodgrain stock.
Every year, Food Corporation of India receives about 250 lakh tonnes of foodgrains (wheat and rice) for the central pool in Punjab.
Since the existing storage space is completely full, if vigorous efforts are not made to empty it during August-September, new problems may arise from October.
During the Kharif marketing season, between 180-190 lakh tonnes of paddy arrives in the mandis of Punjab and after custom milling, 66 percent rice is obtained from it which amounts to around 120 lakh tonnes.
On an average, only 7-8 lakh tonnes of rice can be sent from Punjab to other states every month and thus a stock of 20 to 30 lakh tonnes of rice remains in Punjab.