The laxity on part of the government to construct godowns to store food grains is causing huge wastage of agro produce .jpg) High production of food grains has become an issue for the government due to low storage capacity at the home turf. The government had taken the responsibility to ensure that food grains in the country are not damaged. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) are responsible to increase storage capacity. It was planned that the three agencies would build godowns and store houses to store the food grains. However, the agencies have been quite lax in fulfilling its responsibilities. States such as Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar lag far behind in this endeavour and are largely affected due to limited storage capacity.
In this context, Arun Govind, director of Shiva Foods, a small-sized food grain supplier and exporter in Patna, says, “This has further affected the procurement process from UP and Bihar. With less number of store houses, food grains are being left in the open. Resultantly, food grains are being damaged due to rains and pest attacks, thereby leading to huge losses for farmers.”
Measures to prevent wastage
“This year crop production has been high due to favourable climatic conditions. However, on the other hand, high production of food grains has led to storage problems. Therefore, the government should permit traders to export food grains in order to help them earn high profits as well as limit crop wastage stemming from low storage capacity,” says Dharmesh Yadav, proprietor of Santosh Exporters, a large-sized food grain exporter in Ludhiana, Punjab.
In order to increase the storage capacity, the Rural Godown Scheme will be introduced in rural areas. Under this Scheme, there would be scientific storage capacity, which would help farmers to store their farm as well as processed farm produce and other agricultural inputs for a longer period.
Sabrina Mitchell |
