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The Punjab Government has announced that sugarcane crushing in the state will begin from November 25 onwards. The decision was made during a meeting of the State Sugarcane Control Board, chaired by Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Wednesday.

 Khudian said that Punjab has witnessed a 5% increase in the area under sugarcane crop. This year, sugarcane crop has been cultivated on 1 lakh hectares area, which is up from around 95,000 hectares previous year. There are 15 sugar mills in Punjab, comprising nine cooperative and six private mills, which are expected to crush around 700 lakh quintals of sugarcane. The state is projected to produce 62 lakh quintals of sugar this season, he added.

The Agriculture Minister directed the officials concerned to ensure that all arrangements are in place before the commencement of crushing operations, while emphasising that farmers should not face any inconvenience in selling their produce and timely payments should also be made to them.


More than Rs. 22000 Crore credited into accounts of farmers: Kataruchak

In the current paddy procurement season Rs. 22,047 Crore have been credited into the accounts of the farmers and 105 Lakh Metric Tonne (LMT) of paddy out of 111 LMT arriving in the mandis, stand procured, a statement said on Wednesday.
 

As regards the aspect of lifting, 6.18 LMT paddy was lifted on Tuesday which is an achievement from a single-day point of view and the total lifting till now stands at 64,55,000 LMT which comes around to nearly 62 percent. Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said that out of the 5086 rice mills in the state, 4792 have applied for the allotment and 4579 mills have been allotted which is a clear proof that this 6th procurement season of the present State Government would also turn out to be a very successful one.

 The Minister said that this time, the state got the target to procure 185 LMT and the State Government has made elaborate arrangements for 190 LMT whether in the form of Bardana or monetary form. Last year the Union Government had imposed value cut on the crop brought by the farmers in the mandis but the Punjab Government paid Rs. 190 Crore out of its own pocket to the farmers so as to make sure that they do not suffer financially, said the Minister adding that the State Government had given huge relief to the rice millers also whether it is the issue of CMR security or any other.