Farm Produce Storage Gap

Godowns in the cooperative sector will benefit farmers

Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), says the assessment is of a agricultural produce storage gap of 35 million tonnes (mt).The agri procurement season's peak is May-June. Agri finance and warehouse industry sources expect a huge requirement after the kharif harvest, with over 10 grain, cereal and oilseed crops trading below the government's Minimum Support Price (MSP). Nabard has sanctioned a total of 9.29 mt of scientific grain storage capacity, of which 3.85 mt is operational. Nabard is the largest financer in this sector, said Bhanwala.Due to the shortage of storage, government procurement agencies usually take warehouse facilities on rent. Food Corporation of India (FCI) has a scheme where it assures renting for a specified number of years when private companies build.Despite all this, storage is a problem. In the past, grain was stored in open silos; this is being gradually replaced with more scientific storage. ...