The government will create temporary storage facility for 10 million tonnes of grain to create space for fresh wheat procurement from April, said officials. These storage structures, commonly called Covered and Plinth (CAP), will come up mostly in Punjab and Haryana, which contribute 70% to the government’s total wheat procurement.
The storage capacity in the country is around 83 mt, with around 70 mt covered and 13 mt CAP. In Punjab and Haryana, where rice procurement is underway, storage facilities are almost saturated. “Around 75% of the wheat procured from Punjab is stocked under CAP, which is partly exposed to rains and weather. With new harvest and new CAP facilities coming up, more wheat will be stored under CAP. The rice which is being procured has to be stored in covered godowns,” said the official.
The official said the cost of food grain storage in 2019-20 is estimated to go up to Rs 5,201 crore, up from Rs 4,358 crore spent by the FCI in 2018-19 and Rs 3,610 crore in 2017-18. “With good weather conditions, we expect bumper wheat this year. Looking at past record, we will be able to buy around 40 mt wheat in the current rabi season. We need to have extra storage space for that,” said the official.
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Source: The Economic Times