FCI has base depots in only 355 out 590 districts of the country. It is supposed to have a depot in each district. Special attention has to be given to hill districts of UP which have no base depots, rest of UP which has 17 depots for 27 depots for 83 districts, Orissa which has 17 depots for 30 districts, Bihar which has 39 depots for 55 districts and MP which has 37 depots for 61 districts. Principal distribution centres should be designated in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands so as to enable the administration to benefit from transport subsidy scheme.

The report has suggested creation of an additional storage capacity of 17,44,670 tonne by Food Corporation of India (FCI) at 40 sites. It also suggested creation of additional capacity to handle 11,20,300 tonnes by the CentralWarehousing Corporation (CWC) at 121 sites, additional capacity of 13,21,420 tonnes by state warehousing corporations (SWCs) at 186 sites and additional 8,13,470 tonne capacity by state civil supplies corporations (SCSCs), state governments, cooperatives, agricultural marketing boards and private sector at 147 sites.

In total it suggested the need for creation of additional 49,99,860 tonnes storage capacity for foodgrains in the country at an estimated cost of Rs 816.66 crore to meet the requirements by the year 2010.

The report prepared by the joint secretary (storage), Balbir Singh stated that all concerned agencies including the private sector should work in coordination and see that no idle capacities are created in future due to improper planning and execution.

The report while assessing this requirement of additional storage capacity has also taken into consideration that CWC has 10,22,800 tonne spareable capacity at its disposal at 97 sites and SWCs has a total of 8,17,165 tonne spareablecapacity at 121 sites at their disposal.

According to assessment at present the country has a total storage capacity of 355.60 lakh tonne for foodgrains and 42.35 lakh tonne of uncovered capacity, out of which FCI has a total of 122.99 lakh tonne storage capacity and 15.16 lakh tonne uncovered storage facility. CWC has a total capacity of 54.05 lakh tonne and uncovered storage facility of 0.48 lakh tonne.

The SWCs has total capacity of 77.79 lakh tonne and uncovered facility of 3.5 lakh tonne. SCSCs and state governments have 25.47 lakh tonne storage capacity and 1.10 lakh tonne uncovered facility. The cooperatives, agricultural marketing boards, marketing federations have a total of 65.53 lakh tonne storage capacity and 3.13 uncovered facility.

The report also noted that to meet the requirements every year the FCI hires 85.06 lakh tonne storage capacity and 15.67 lakh tonne uncovered storage facility. Similarly the CWC hires 13.56 lakh tonne storage facilities every year and SWCs hire 19.28 lakh tonnestorage capacity and 10.21 lakh tonne uncovered facility. The SCSCs and state governments hire 22.97 lakh tonne storage capacity and 23.39 lakh tonne of uncovered facility. The cooperatives, agricultural marketing boards and marketing federations hire 9.77 lakh tonne storage capacity and 19.23 lakh tonne of uncovered facility.

The report which made an in depth study of the storage situations in every block and district levels of the country has noted that while some places have excess storage capacity, some are deficient in storage capacity. There are instances of idle capacity at some places, while some proposals are under consideration for constructing additional capacity. At places, some storage godowns are just not being used for administrative reasons, while some agencies are planning to add to their existing storage capacities.

While the capacity of FCI is utilised entirely for storage of foodgrains and sugar for PDS needs, the capacities of CWC and SWCs are utilised mainly for other agriculturalproduces, implements, fertilisers and others apart from partly using for storage of foodgrains. As foodgrains storage gets priority, it would be advisable for FCI to make annual projections of storage needs based on the annual production and procurement estimates and sound other storage agencies well in advance to avoid problems arising out of inadequacy of space. A system of FCI reserving storage space with other storage agencies is also worth consideration, the report stated.

As FCI godowns do not operate further down the district level base depots, there has to be a different storage mechanism in each state, so that after the state allocation of foodgrains under PDS is lifted from the base depot, the same can be stocked at this intermediate level for issue to the fair price shops on monthly basis. This mechanism should be provided by the state civil supplies corporations or cooperatives or private wholesalers of the state food departments.

At the same time, the report also pointed out that there arestates like West Bengal which has FCI storage capacity in excess of its requirement while Kerala is deficient in storage infrastructure. In certain states like Orissa and Gujarat, a sizeable storage capacity of FCI is lying idle for a long time on account of labour problems. In Orissa alone, the idle capacity is 82,500 tonne and in Gujarat it is 50,000 tonne. FCI's capacity utilisation in northeastern states is low. In Punjab and Haryana, major chunk of storage is occupied by foodgrains procured for the central pool. Besides, a sizeable capacity is also blocked for storage of old stocks due to slow process of evacuation out of these states.

The report further stated that although a sizeable storage capacity has been created in various states under NCDC scheme, there is hardly any awareness on part of state food departments about location-wise details of these godowns. Similarly over 28 lakh tonne capacity created by rural development department under the National Grid of Rural Godowns Scheme are also notproperly utilised. Most of the state governments has no complete information about the private storage capacity available.

The report suggested that all uncovered storage facilities in procuring states need to be converted into covered storage facilities. Accumulated foodgrains should move out of the procuring states at a faster pace. Each intermediate storage capacities should be constructed by CWC in northeast, south India and western India which will act as grain corridors from the surplus states. Consumer states should also expand storage capacities. All agencies should work in coordination while setting up their additional capacity so that no idle capacity is created in future.

This assessment of the food ministry made by Balbir Singh, joint secretary (storage), assumes importance in the light of the fact that owing to bumper wheat crop and record procurement of 14.08 million tonne by the central pool, the procurement agencies are facing the problem of storage. The total procurement in 1998-99 wasonly 12.65 million tonne. The problem of storage is further accentuated by huge carryover stock of wheat which has still remained undisposed in spite of the offer to states to conduct open market sales. The procurement agencies also store rice and sugar required for PDS and maintain adequate levels of buffer stocks.

The wheat output is estimated to be 73.2 million tonne. The total market arrivals till May 28 is 15.08 million tonne and the total daily increase in market arrivals in all the mandis of the country is of the order of 11,774 tonne. Daily increase in procurement is 22,249 tonne.

In some states, the CWC, which has the mandate under the CEC Act to generate sufficient warehousing capacities for agricultural produces in the country, has not been able to put up a satisfactory presence. As regards SWCs, these are only 16 in all at present. Other states have yet to decide on setting up state warehousing corporations.

Some of the existing SWCs are facing financial crunch and they need to widen theirequity base to help them expand their activities. While northeastern states need a special treatment for upgrading the existing storage mechanism in the region, the peculiar problem arising out of huge old stock of wheat and rice in Punjab and Haryana need to be tackled on priority before it gets too late.