Comments
The President, Ms Pratibha Patil, has said it is “intolerable” to see the country’s foodgrains stocks not finding adequate storage space and urged the agricultural universities to evolve new scientific methods for addressing the problem.
“Universities can help by actively evolving new scientific methods of ....warehousing,” Ms Patil said addressing the 45th convocation of the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS) here today.
She called for a coordinated action to step up storage facilities.
Currently, the government’s godowns are overflowing with over 65 million tonnes of foodgrains against the available storage level of slightly over 62 mt.
“In a country where food security is yet to be achieved, a situation where food stocks are inappropriately stored is intolerable. ...food storage limitations have to be addressed squarely by augmenting storage facilities,” Ms Patil said.
She also suggested a decentralised system of warehousing which could make food distribution not only easier and quicker, but also a low cost option that cuts wastage while transporting foodgrains.
The country is facing storage crunch in view of bumper production and procurement last year.
It is estimated to have harvested a record 241.56 mt of foodgrains in the 2010-11 crop year (July-June) and aims to achieve 245 mt of production this year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.