The stink continues as foodgrain rot due to poor storage
The agency responsible for managing food stocks in India, The Food Corporation of India (FCI), stores the entire stocks of rice and 15 percent wheat procured from Punjab for central pool.
THERE HAVE have been several occasions when lakhs of metric tonnes of rice, paddy and wheat have rotten in the open due to lack of storage. There has been continuous coverage of the same in recent past by almost all news channels. Nearly 2.94 lakh MT rice and 1.18 lakh MT paddy (unmilled rice) have been declared as damaged by the agency between 2001 and 2010. In case of wheat, the damage amounts to 43,872 lakh MT, against nearly 8 lakh MT that rotted in the custody of the five state agencies, which store 85 per cent of the wheat procured for the central pool. The figures are indeed mind boggling. The condition is so bad that the damaged stocks are being auctioned as cattle and animal feed, industrial use or manure! Yes, you heard it right. With people dying of hunger and malnutrition everyday, and food prices escalating and reaching the roof almost every quarter, this is the way our authorities manage the precious produce. But some would think what options do the authorities have? The stock which has rotten cannot be utilised for any other purpose, so rather than wasting it, why not feed it to the animals and the industries! Justified. So the question remains, what needs to be monitored? The surplus, the buffer stocks or the storage which ultimately decides the fate of the precious produce-whether surplus or deficit?
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