As the foodgrain storage situation becomes acute across the country?in last count around 20 million tonne of foodgrain are lying in the open for want of adequate storage space?a meeting of state food secretaries called by the central government next month is expected to prominently discuss the issue ahead of kharif procurement season that starts in October.
Sources said though the meeting is scheduled to discuss preparedness and arrangements of the states for procurement of paddy, rice and coarse cereals during the coming kharif harvest season but a big issue will be the storage problem.
?Among other things storage is expected to dominate the meeting as it has become acute,? a senior government official said, adding letters have been dispatched to all states inviting them for the crucial meeting.
The meeting, which will be attended by food secretaries of all main foodgrain growing states including Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal and also officials from the Food Corporation of India (FCI), is also expected to discuss the future availability of storage space, likely offtake of foodgrain ahead of the procurement season, requirement of gunny bags for storage.
The meeting is also expected to set a target for paddy (de-husked rice) procurement by central and state agencies. In the 2009-10 procurement season that will end on September 2010, the state agencies have purchased around 28.2 million tonne of rice till May 31, marginally less than last year?s procurement of around 29.3 million tonne. Wheat procurement during the 2010-11 crop marketing that started April 1, 2010 is estimated to be around 22.36 million tonne till May-end, also marginally down from 23.74 million tonne purchased during the same period last year.
?The meeting is also expected to discuss issues related to quality of foodgrain procured by state agencies and also need for opening up more procurement centers in states where such centres are in less numbers,? the official said.
Foodgrain storage in the country has become a big problem following successive years of bumper harvest, followed by record procurement by state agencies. In India, state agencies procure foodgrain from farmers at a fixed minimum support price (MSP) to meet its requirement for social schemes like targeted public distribution system and also to main a reasonable of buffer and strategic reserve.
The government?s food stocks totaled more than 30 million tonne as on May 1, much more than that required for maintaining a reasonable level of buffer stocks and strategic reserve.