6,348 tonne of stored foodgrains damaged in 2010-11

About 6,348 tonnes of foodgrains stored in various government outlets across the country were damaged primarily due to storage pest attack and leakages in godowns in 2010-11, a fact which does not go down well for the country's food security.

"The foodgrains get damaged due to various reasons such as storage pest attack, leakages in godowns, procurement of poor quality stocks, during movement of stocks, exposure to rains, floods, etc," Food Minister K V Thomas said in a written reply to Lok Sabha last week.

The minister had said that in some cases damage to the foodgrains stock is found to be due to the negligence of the officials for which they were taken to task.

According to the Second Advance estimates by the Agriculture ministry, the country is tipped to achieve foodgrains production of 232.07 million tonnes in 2010-11 period.

Rolling out details of region-wise stock of foodgrains accrued as damage/non-issuable during the period April 2010 to January 2011 in FCI, the minister said Gujarat leads with total amount of damaged foodgrains at 2,595 tonnes.

The western state is followed by Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with damage amounting to 1,338 tonnes, 922 tonnes, 520 tonnes and 200 tonnes respectively during the period, the minister added.

Jammu and Kashmir reported the least amount of the damaged foodgrains.

The state had zero damage to foodgrains stock during the period, the list provided by the minister said.

Delhi, Manipur and Nagaland recorded a marginal loss of one tonne each. It was two tonnes each in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh while it was three tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, the details said.

Thomas said the government has been able to dispose 2,776 tonnes of damaged or non-issuable foodgrain stock during the period.

Giving details of the set rules for disposal, the minister said the identified damaged foodgrains are grouped into various categories of possible use such as animal feeds, industrial use, manure and unfit for any use.

While the damaged quantities unfit for any use are destroyed, those of other categories are sold by auction, he said.