Grappling with problems of plenty, the Centre has decided to ramp up storage capacity by 20 lakh tonnes under the rural godown scheme during 2009-10.
"It is proposed to create 20 lakh tonnes of storage capacity in the country under the rural godown scheme during 2009-10," Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Under this scheme, 20,691 rural godowns with a capacity of 240.75 lakh tonnes have been sanctioned and a subsidy of Rs 553.75 crore has been released up to May 31, 2009, he said.
The government's decision to create more capacity came amid apprehensions by the industry that space constraints may hamper the government's procurement programme this year. The Centre had piled up foodgrains of over 535 lakh tonnes against the annual requirement of 496 lakh tonnes as on June 1.
Seperately, Thomas conceded that the Food Corporation of India and other state agencies are witnessing space crunch to store foodgrains due to bumper procurement of wheat.
The FCI had built up reserves of 242.66 lakh tonnes, compared with a total storage capacity of 275.59 lakh tonnes by June-end, he said.
The Planning Commission has already allocated Rs 125 crore to the FCI and Rs 24 crore to some north-eastern states to establish new godowns.
Moreover, the government has procured record 251.35 lakh tonnes of wheat and 316.55 lakh tonnes of rice as on July 16.
Financial assistance to state governments for setting up store houses is provided by the Centre in the form of grants-in-aid while technical help is granted by the FCI.
Seperately, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in the Lok Sabha that the Centre has 15.54 lakh quintals of surplus seeds against the demand placed by states for this Kharif.
"The availability of certified/quality seed is 126.51 lakh quintals for Kharif 2009 against the requirement of 110.97 lakh quintals as indicated by the state governments to the Government of India," he said.
The availability of paddy seeds stands at 52.73 lakh quintals for this Kharif, compared with the requirement of 48.92 lakh quintals, Pawar said. Similarly, the supply of coarse cereal seeds touches 64.60 lakh quintals against the requiremnt of 60.27 lakh quintals.
The availability of pulses seeds at 52.51 lakh quintals, too, exceeds the demand of 43.65 lakh quintals, the minister said.
