Scientific approach needed for preventing storage grain loss:

Supply of good quality produce through public distribution system can be achieved by scientific intervention on grain storage, the Country Coordinator, Biodiversity International, Delhi, N K Krishnakumar said today.
This was important as the 40 ton of reserve grain stock cannot feed more than two consecutive years of drought in the changing climate scenario, Krishnakumar said.
He suggested exploration of genetic technologies as new tools in this area.
He was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on scientific approaches in preventing grain losses organised in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
ICAR Deputy Director General (Agricultural Engineering), K Alagusundaram shared his research experiences on grain storage at Canada, Delhi and Tiruchirappalli and said bulk storage of grain could minimize losses compared to bag storage methods.

Through Food Corporation of India, 60-72 ton of grains are stored which at the current minimum support price works out to around Rs.One lakh crore, Alagusundaram said.

Placement of trained entomologists in FCI godowns to save these stocks is the need of hour, he pointed out.
TNAU vice-chancellor, Dr. K. Ramasamy emphasized the need for scientific storage of foodgrains to achieve price consistency and uniform distribution all through the year.
An exhibition and practical demonstration to 600 farmers on use of insect traps will be held tomorrow.