Question : Wastage of Food Grains

(a) whether the Government is concerned about the wastage of food grains procured by the Government through State agencies across the country including the State of Tamil Nadu;

(b) if so, the details of procured paddy being wasted due to the storage in open space across the country State-wise;

(c) whether the Government has formulated any plan of action for construction of adequate godowns / covered storage space to prevent wastage; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government?

A N S W E R
MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a) & (b): Foodgrain procurement for the central pool is undertaken in some States through State Government agencies based on memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Government of India (GoI) and the respective State Government. Only the foodgrain stocks meeting Fair Average Quality (FAQ) standards of GoI procured by the State agencies are considered as a part of central pool stocks. Moreover, no paddy stock got wasted/damaged due to storage in open space in Food Corporation of India (FCI) or reported from any State.

(c) & (d): Yes, Sir. Government continuously assesses and monitors the storage capacity and based on the storage gap assessment, storage capacities are created/hired. Further, Government has been implementing the following schemes for construction of godowns and augmentation of storage capacities:

1. Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme.
2. Central Sector Scheme (CSS).
3. Construction of Silos under PPP mode.
4. Hiring of godown from CWC/SWCs/State Agencies.
5. Private Warehousing Scheme (PWS).
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