FCI storage space way behind requirement
Food Corporation of India’s (FCI’s) hunt for additional storage space in producing states is facing rough weather. This is despite the fact that in recent months, various states have lifted the grain allocated to them from Punjab and Haryana, making more space available for the current season.
Hardly 10 per cent of newly-identified capacities have been sanctioned so far, leaving a huge shortfall. The country is expecting a wheat output of 82 million tonnes this rabi season. Around 30 per cent is usually procured by government agencies. Two-third comes from Punjab and Haryana. This season, Punjab’s procurement target is 11 mt, compared to 10.2 mt last year. Haryana’s target is the same as last year, 5.9 mt.
In 2009, FCI identified a storage shortfall of about 15 mt, of which eight mt was in Punjab and four mt in Haryana. Till now, barely one mt capacity has been sanctioned under FCI’s public-private partnership scheme.
The proposed eight mt extra space needed in Punjab has been cut to five mt, says the state’s food and civil supplies minister, Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon. Yet, only 450,000 tonnes of new capacity addition under the Private Entrepreneur Guarantee Scheme (PEGS) of FCI has been sanctioned and that too only very recently. Another 1.3 mt may be offered to the second-lowest bidders, but it remains to be seen if this will come through. This slow pace of the Union government and FCI would make it an unwieldy exercise, said Kairon.
Punjab has a storage space of two mt, of which only 0.95 mt is covered. The latter leads to large spoilage.
In case of Haryana, out of 3.9 mt of proposed additional space, only 440,000 tonnes under PEGS has been sanctioned. According to sources, only 220,000 tonnes of this has been allotted.
Of the 17 mt of wheat contributed by these two states to the central pool, a large part is stored in open plinths. FCI says this is safe but many such centres have seen spoilage, as media reports affirm.
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan also contribute wheat to the national pool. Last year, MP contributed two mt and Rajasthan 1.1 mt; however, they have the required storage space.