News
Food security: India's ₹1-trillion scheme to boost cooperative grain storage
Summary
The plan is to converge existing schemes of the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and ministry of food processing industries, and to utilize the funds available under the schemes for this purpose.
New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Wednesday cleared a ₹1 trillion scheme to increase foodgrain storage capacity by 70 million tonnes in the cooperative sector. This will be world’s largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector. The plan will let cooperatives set up decentralised storage facilities across the country, in a move that is likely to reduce the burden on Food Corp of India (FCI), cut wastage of farm produce and help farmers plan their sales better.
The plan is to converge existing schemes of the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and ministry of food processing industries, and to utilize the funds available under the schemes for this purpose.
In December, Mint had reported that India is working on setting up the world’s largest grain storage facility by merging various schemes of these three ministries in the wake of disruptions caused by the war in Europe and the covid-19 pandemic.
Countries were worried about their food security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted the world’s foodgrain supply, sending prices to record levels, which have since eased.
During the briefing on cabinet decisions, Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur said presently, the grain storage capacity in the country is about 145 million tonnes. Over the next five years, the storage capacity will expand to 215 million tonnes.
To ensure timely and uniform implementation of the plan in a professional manner, the ministry of cooperation will initiate a pilot project in at least 10 selected districts across states and Union Territories. The pilot will provide valuable insights into regional requirements, which will be incorporated into the nationwide implementation of the programme.
A committee will be set up under union minister of cooperation Amit Shah within a week, implementation guidelines will be issued within 15 days and guidelines and implementation methodologies for the schemes of the respective ministries will be modified within the approved outlays and prescribed goals.
The ministry of cooperation aims to transform primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) into successful and vibrant business enterprises. The focus will be on agri-infrastructure, such as warehouses and processing units, at the PACS level, and will strengthen India’s food security, reduce wastage, and improve farmers’ income.
The move assumes significance as it could help farmers manage their produce better and realise higher prices. With over 100,000 PACS and over 130 million farmers as members, this initiative aims to leverage the role of PACS in transforming the agricultural and rural landscape of the Indian economy.
In other cabinet decisions, a project was cleared to financially support state governments to take climate action and supplement the Centre’s efforts in this area. The scheme—City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain 2.0—is conceived in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union (EU), and New Delhi-based National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). The programme will run for a period of four years till 2027.
The project aims to leverage and scale up the learnings and an earlier version of the scheme launched in 2018 with an outlay of ₹933 crore (EUR 106 million.) The funding entails a loan of ₹1,760 crore (EUR 200 million) from AFD and KfW (EUR 100 million each) and a technical assistance grant of ₹106 crore (EUR 12 million) from the EU. The Union Cabinet also approved the establishment of a regional office of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in New Delhi to undertake UPU’s development cooperation and technical assistance activities in the region by entering into an agreement with UPU.
It will also support competitively selected projects that promote circular economy with focus on integrated waste management at the city level. It will aso support climate-oriented reform actions at the state level and institutional strengthening and knowledge dissemination at the national level.
. The approval enables India to play active role at multilateral organizations in postal sector with emphasis on South-South and Triangular cooperation. India will provide a Field Project Expert, staff and office set up for UPU’s regional office. Projects on capacity building and training, improving efficiency and quality of postal services, enhancement of Postal technology, e-commerce and trade promotion etc. will be prepared and implemented for the region by this office in coordination with UPU.
