Revision as of 23:16, 22 March 2017

The states’ capacity to store foodgrains after procurement

The Times of India

Pradeep Thakur TNN 2013/06/16

Most states can’t stock grains beyond 75 days

The worst performing states’ capacity to store foodgrains after procurement

New Delhi: A CAG report on foodgrain management in the country paints a grim picture on the states’ capability to manage operational stock of foodgrain. Out of 31 states and Union territories, eight have storage capacities of 120 days.

Most poor states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam do not have the capacity to handle stocks for more than 13-75 days. HP, Meghalaya, J&K, Jharkhand and Assam cannot even handle their stock for a month. Audit reveals that more than 1 lakh tonne of wheat worth Rs 122 crore was damaged in Punjab and Haryana alone in the last two years.

Despite the fact that over a hundred lakh tonnes of foodgrain stocks as old as 2007-08 were lying in the custody of states, the government continued on a procurement drive. Also, at a time when the government’s spend on food subsidy was estimated to touch Rs 1.25 lakh crore, it exported foodgrain from its overflowing reserves at subsidized rates causing loss of over Rs 1,700 crore (in 2012-13).

Production, year-wise

2014-15: Low offtake

The Times of India, Jul 02 2015

Shortfall of foodgrains: April, May, June: 2014, 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Jul 02 2015

Mahendra Singh

Rlys takes `300cr hit as states cut grain buy

Reluctance of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to avail subsidized foodgrains from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has put the railways in a spot. The national transporter is suffering losses of around Rs 90 crore every month as the FCI has drastically cut down loading of foodgrains, sources said.

The substantial cut in loading target is due to the food ministry and FCI's failure to take up the issue with the these states, which have the maximum number of poor and have been the biggest receiver of subsidized foodgrains, said a top government source. He said the loading target was slashed by the FCI without prior information to the railways that led to large number of rakes lying idle.The FCI attributed it to a sudden cut in off-take of foodgrains by the states. A senior official found the food ministry and FCI's indifference to the issue intriguing. “At a time when the FCI has a stock of around 24 million tonnes of wheat procured under re laxed norms and a shorter shelf life of 8 to 10 months, the Centre and FCI must act to transport grains from Punjab and Haryana to consumer states at the earliest,“ he said. “Foodgrain loading of railways is at an all-time low and its wagon capacity is being wasted,“ said an official adding the railways has already lost around Rs 300 crore in three months.

To tame onion prices, govt extends stock limit

The Cabinet extended the stock limit on onion for one year to July 2016 in its bid to curb the rise in the commodity's prices. The validity of the order that empowers states to impose stock limits on traders for holding onion and ban hoarding beyond the set limit expires on Thursday. The decision will enable state governments take effective de-hoarding measures under the Essential Commodities Act. Oly three states Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana have so far fixed the stock limit on potatoes and onions.

2015-16: Output up despite scant rainfall

The Times of India, August 3, 2016

Total foodgrain production, rice, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, 2014-15 and 2015-16; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, August 3, 2016

Vishwa Mohan

Foodgrain output up despite scant rainfall in 2015-16

Despite deficient rainfall and shortage of water in reservoirs, India's foodgrain production in 2015-16 is estimated to be slightly higher than the total production in 2014-15 -thanks to irrigated areas of northwest India where good wheat production more than made it up. However, pulses remain a major worry as its production reported a decline. In fact, production of most of the crops, including rice, pulses and oilseeds, is estimated to be lower in 2015-16 crop year (July-June) than their production in 2014-15.

The total production still crossed the 2014-15 figures mainly due to higher wheat production, reflecting a degree of resilience of Indian agriculture to a deficit monsoon in the areas having proper irrigation infrastructure.

The agriculture ministry came out with its fourth advance estimates of foodgrain production for 2015-16, showing that the production in the year stand at 252.22 million tonnes as compared to 252.02 million tonnes (MT) in 2014-15 that was also the drought year. Though the deficiency in Mon soon rainfall in 2015 was higher than the deficiency in 2014, the year 2015-16 managed to cross the previous year's production mark due to timely contingency measures during Rabi (winter crop) season that resulted in higher production of wheat.

The production of wheat, estimated at 93.50 MT in 2015-16, is higher by 6.97 MT than the production of 86.53 MT during 2014-15.

On the other hand, the production of pulses in 2015-16 (16.47 MT) is estimated to be slightly lower than its production in 2014-15 (17.15 MT) -a cause of concern as India has to depend heavily on import to meet its domestic demand.

Since pulses are mainly sown in rain-fed areas, decline in its production is attributed to deficit rainfall in 2015 when as many as 11states were drought-hit. Nearly all major pulse growing states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka had faced severe drought.

The overall production in both the years was, however, way below the 2013-14 mark when the country had achieved a record foodgrain production of 265.04 million tonnes.

2012-17: foodgrain and oilseeds

See graphic.

Foodgrain production, 2012-17; The Times of India, Feb 16, 2017

See also

Food and Civil Supplies: India <> Food and Civil Supplies, hoarding of: India <> Foodgrain management: India