Origo Commodities to manage five warehouses in Odisha

Along with Origo, we will undertake awareness building measures in rural areas and draw up inventories in procuring commodities like onions, mango, moong and others

Origo Commodities, a leading post-harvest and warehousing solutions company, has entered into a pact with the state government to provide preservation, maintenance and security services for food grains at five ware houses of the state.

The Odisha State Warehousing Corporation (OSWC), as per the pact, has allowed Origo Commodities to manage 1.10 lakh tonne of food grains on pilot basis. This is for the first time the state PSU has outsourced the management of the warehouses to any private entity.

"As a pilot project, we have signed the pact with Origo as there is a shortage of human resource for managing the warehouses. The warehouses outsourced are stacked with food grains - rice and wheat. Based on their performance, we may consider allowing them to manage more warehouses", said an official of the OSWC.

It may be noted that Origo has-pan India presence of managing more than 500 warehouses across 15 states, with assets under management worth Rs 85 billion (USD 1.4 billion) and storage capacity of more than 3.5 million metric tonne for a wide range of commodities.

"With Origo's assistance, we aim to increase the quality of stocks at our go-downs and ensure that they are at par with FCI standards. We shall soon extend this model to other commodities as well and encourage private depositors to use our space. This will be a win-win proposition for farmers as well as the corporation. Along with Origo, we will undertake awareness building measures in rural areas and draw up inventories in procuring commodities like onions, mango, moong and others. Origo can also pitch in procurement of paddy, especially maintaining stocks in small sized go-downs being built in Odisha at PAC (primary agricultural cooperative society) level. This will help us break the stranglehold of rice millers here," said Niranjan Nayak, managing director, Odisha State Warehousing Corporation in a release issued by Origo Commodities.

"With this initiative, we hope to add significant value to the efforts of the Odisha government in ensuring proper and scientific storage of MSP (minimum support price) procured food grains", Mayank Dhanuka, Director, Origo Commodities said on the tie up.