Foodgrain Management in India

Foodgrain management is a vast topic to study. The global pandemic has observed a sharp decrease in our country’s economy in the previous few years. After noticing such a decrease in the economy, the government came up with a decent budget to invest in food corporations in India to stimulate the economy. 

There is a need for food management in India. This is because poor food management leads to various repercussions for our country. These include losses or wastage of food, inefficiency in reaching to the masses, and lost food because of corrupt people. We will discuss what the government is doing about food management and the policies regarding it. Let’s dive in to learn about the whole process of food management in India.

Food Corporation in India

The Food Corporation of India was set up in 1965 under the food corporations act of 1964. The reason behind the setting up of FCI was the shortage of wheat in the country. Since then, it has been authorised to take care of food management in India. Its headquarter is in New Delhi. It has a total of 170 district offices under its control. FCI also consists of twenty-five regional centres and five zonal offices.

What does FCI do?

FCI has the following responsibilities:

• To purchase food grains from inside or outside of India.
• To move or transport food from one place to another.
• To store excess food grains.
• To sell food grains inside or outside the country.
• To distribute food among the people of our country.

How are food grains managed in India?

Food grain management is a very long procedure. It is primarily undertaken by the food corporation of India. Here is how it manages food grains:

• The central government announces the prices of food grains, including paddy, wheat, and other coarse grains, via state food agencies or FCI. Once the food grains’ specifications are passed, they are available for public use. They are used by public procurement agencies. MSP (Minimum Support Price) is issued for farmers to get incentives or bonuses if obtained.
• Procurement is undertaken either directly or indirectly. It usually follows a decentralised procurement scheme. The scheme allows states to procure food grains and distribute them among the retailers. 
• Before starting procurement, the government presents a report on the quality of paddy, wheat, and other coarse grains. FCI has a special quality control division for this task. 
• Once procurement gets completed, the grains get ready for distribution. The grains are set only under the fixed issue prices declared by the government. This is done to help the people with bad financial conditions. Under the national food security act 2013, one has to strictly sell only subsidised foodgrains to the eligible .
• After that, the food gets distributed by the public distribution system.

How do we store food grains in India?

This part is managed by the central warehousing corporation. At the state level, it used to be managed by the state warehousing corporation. There are several methods of storing food grains. These include:

• Cover and plinth method- The cover and plinth method refers to the process of putting food grains in the open. This is done by taking several precautions and making the place damp-proof or rat-free. The polythene covers are used to cover the grains that are specifically made to store them.

• Silo bag technique- The silo bag technique uses a plastic bag to cover grains that are formed in the shape of a tube. It preserves the food grains from several harmful factors including humidity, rains, dust, UV rays, etc. 

• Silos- Silos are large structures that are used to store food grains. are the most efficient method of food grain conservation. It is space-efficient and preserves up to 30% of the land. The grains used get conserved in long tower-shaped structures. 

• Covered storage- Covered storage is the most common kind of technique even common people adopt for storage. In this technique, food grains are stored in warehouses, filled in jute bags.

What are the issues faced by India in food storage and management?

Several issues need to be fixed regarding food storage and management in India. These problems include:

Less budget infrastructure

The less budget of India for food management is the biggest issue. The godown or warehouses where we store the food are of low quality and do not have appropriate temperature or moisture conditions. This, in many places, leads to damage to the food grains and their wastage. 

It degrades the quality of food grains. The grains sometimes get also infected by insects or molds. Because of poor storage management, in 2013, according to a CAG report, a large number of grains got drained into the central pool leading to the wastage of stocks and farmers’ endeavours.

Insufficiency and imbalance in India’s food grains storage systems

There is not even such a proper storage system in India that can store grains for a long time. In 2013, a CAG report described the unevenness of India’s food storage system. There are fewer food storage centres in India and these are limited to only some specific cities including Haryana, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh.

Conclusion

Hence, this was about the food grain management in India. We get to know the responsibilities of FCI and how FCI functions in food management and storage. FCI was set up in 1965 under the food corporations act of 1964. The FCI has complete responsibilities of transporting food grain. Other than that their storage, selling and distribution comes under their responsibilities. 

In India, the food grain movement and management needs to fix some prevailing issues such as less budget infrastructure and insufficient storage system.