MP invites pvt players for wheat storage

State charts out ways to tackle another season of crop bounty

Anticipating another season of bounty in the state’s wheat fields, the Madhya Pradesh government is inviting private partners this year in its bid to create more warehousing facilities. The state has targeted procuring 65 lakh tonnes of wheat this year -- an all-time high, which is 15 lakh tonnes more than its previous year’s figure. As for production, the state has this year estimated 120 lakh tonnes, which will be another record.

The procurement process has come under sharper scrutiny this time after the main opposition Congress party alleged last year that a few state officials had imported cheap wheat from neighbouring states to fetch more prices and, thus, pocket profit. As of now, the government has put on allocation a food credit limit of Rs 1,100 crore for procurement purpose.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already announced a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal to the minimum support price, thereby capping floor price at Rs 1,385 per quintal. As of now, 4.5 lakh tonnes of wheat that was procured last year is still lying either in warehouses or in open covered caps. Thus, to attract private investors in the sector, the government plans to offer at least three months’ business to each warehouse owner, provided they enter into a deal with the government before March 13 on a first-come-first-served basis.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Paras Jain said on Wednesday that the government has a shortage of warehouse space. “But,” he added, “we will manage it through placing 12 lakh tonnes (of wheat) in government warehouses and 30 lakh metric tonnes in joint-venture warehouses. Besides, 23 lakh tonnes of wheat will be kept in open under cap covers.”

Jain noted that a lack of support from the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the central government agency, was leading to the rot of hundreds of tonnes of wheat. “We need approximately 25 lakh tonnes of wheat each year. Yes, FCI does not lift its allocated quota before monsoon.”

Those warehouse owners who are already registered with the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority and have obtained licenses will not be offered assured business. The government will join hands with them in an 80:20 space share ratio.

A scheme that FCI floated earlier did not click much in the state, though ten years of business is assured under the scheme. The Madhya Pradesh Warehousing and Logistics Corporation are creating 85,000-mt capacity godowns and the private players are creating godowns of 243,600-mt capacity.

“To check fraud and import from other states at cheap rates,” the minister said, “the government has registered as many as 13 lakh farmers so that they apply through our e-application system. Each farmer will be registered through an electronic system.” He, however, did not speak about the way the system would function in places/cases where Internet facilities were absent.

Jain said the authorities have asked officials to start wheat procurement despite a data transfer problem. “We we will have an alternate system to monitor the e-procurement system,” he added. Farmers will be paid against their yield within seven days of delivery.