The Ministry of Cooperation on July 31, 2024, notified regarding the new warehouses to ensure food security.
To address the shortage of storage capacity for food grains in the country, the Government on May 31, 2023, approved the “World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector”, which has been rolled out as a Pilot Project. The Plan entails the creation of various Agri infrastructures at the PACS level, including warehouses, custom hiring centres, processing units, Fair Price Shops, etc. through the convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI).
The creation of decentralized storage capacity at the PACS level aims to provide various benefits to the farmers, including the following:
• They will be able to store their produce in the godown constructed at PACS and avail bridge finance for the next cycle of crop and sell the produce at a time of their choice or sell their whole crop to the PACS at Minimum Support Price (MSP), which would enable them to avoid distress sale of crops.
• They will be able to get various agri inputs and services at the Panchayat/ village level itself.
• Through diversification of business, farmers will be able to get additional sources of income.
• Through integration with the food supply management chain, farmers will be able to expand their market size and realize better value for their produce.
• The creation of adequate food grain storage capacity at the PACS level will help in the reduction of post-harvest losses, thus enabling farmers to earn better prices.
[Release ID: 2039582]
