Chandigarh, Sept. 16 -- As freshly harvested paddy crops arrive in Punjab mandis, the state food and civil supplies department is set to open 1,872 mandis for procurement of the kharif crop from Tuesday. In the past, procurement usually began from October 1 but this year, it has been advanced by two weeks to cater to the early sown varieties. "Owing to delayed rainfall in the state which also caused floods and submerged nearly 5 lakh acres of paddy crop in August, there is high moisture content in the crop. The permissible limit for moisture content is 17%. So the procurement will be delayed," said an official in the mandi board. "We are expecting the crop arrival to start in full swing by the first week of October," added the board official. He further advised the farmers to bring their produce after drying it. Nearly 160 tonnes of paddy crop have arrived in the mandis of Rajpura, Kapurthala and Amritsar. "Field conditions are not conducive for the smooth rollout of procurement in many areas where water is yet to be drained out and harvest machines can't venture," said an agriculture department official. The state cabinet had approved the early procurement schedule on Monday, authorising the opening of 1,872 mandis (grain markets) to facilitate the process. Earlier in June, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had announced plans to advance procurement, citing widespread sowing of short-duration paddy varieties. However, that plan has now been disrupted, as even early-maturing crops have been affected by the prolonged rainfall. Flood-hit districts such as Kapurthala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, and Fazilka have reported widespread agricultural damage. These areas are unlikely to have operations of mandis running smoothly by September 16 due to inaccessible fields and delayed crop readiness, the officials said. This season, paddy has been sown over 32.5 lakh hectares in the state, including 6.81 lakh hectares under premium aromatic basmati rice. In July, Punjab had predicted a bumper crop of 180 lakh tonnes, buoyed by favourable sowing conditions. However, the situation changed in August after relentless rains led to excess water release from dams, causing floods in several low-lying districts. The state officials have arranged a cash credit limit to pay the MSP of Rs.2,389 per quintal. "The crop yield will be impacted, and it will be a challenge to meet earlier projections," said Jaswant Singh, director of agriculture. He estimates a 10-15% decline in yield....