Wheat procurement in Haryana crosses 50 lakh tonnes

Chandigarh, April 19 (IANS) With heavy arrivals in the past 4-5 days, government procuring agencies and traders have purchased over 50.34 lakh tonnes of wheat from farmers in Haryana, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

The procurement process, which started on April 1, was running smoothly in the mandis, said a Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department spokesman.

Officials of the department said that wheat arrivals started picking up last week and more arrival is expected in the coming days.

Karnal, Jind and Kaithal districts were leading in wheat arrival.

Haryana is targetting wheat arrival of over 75 lakh tonnes this Rabi season. In neighbouring Punjab, over 40 lakh tonnes of wheat had arrived till Wednesday.