World?s largest grain storage plan in Co-operative sector

World’s largest grain storage plan in Co-operative sector

News: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the establishment of the 'world's largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector' with an outlay of around Rs 1 lakh crore.

Key Highlights:
 The plan focuses on the creation of godowns and other agricultural infrastructure at the level of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) to strengthen food security, reduce wastage, and empower farmers.
 This ambitious project aims to converge eight ongoing schemes of three ministries to address the shortage of agricultural storage infrastructure in India.
 Ministry of Cooperation will implement a pilot project in at least 10 selected districts.
 An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Minister of Cooperation with Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Minister of Food Processing Industries and Secretaries concerned as members.

What are the benefits of the plan?
 The plan aims to address the agricultural storage infrastructure shortage and enable Primary Agriculture Credit Society to function as procurement centres, fair price shops, custom hiring centres, and processing units.
 By creating decentralised storage capacity at the local level, the plan aims to reduce grain wastage, contributing to improved food security.
 It will prevent distress sales of crops, establishment of storage facility at PACS level will reduce transportation costs of food grains.

Challenges:
 Inefficient storage structures that are unsuitable for long-term grain storage, lead to spoilage and quality degradation.
 Lack of proper warehouses and godowns at the farm level, leading to the damage of grains by pests and insects.
 The lack of well-established transportation networks resulted in prolonged transit times and exposure to unfavorable environmental conditions.
 Limited financial resources are allocated for the construction, maintenance, and modernization of storage infrastructure, hindering the improvement of storage facilities.

What are PACS?
 PACS are village level cooperative credit societies that serve as the last link in a three-tier cooperative credit structure headed by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB) at the state level.
 Credit from the SCBs is transferred to the district central cooperative banks, or DCCBs, that operate at the district level. The DCCBs work with PACS, which deal directly with farmers.
 For farmers, timely access to capital is necessary at the start of their agricultural activities. PACS have the capacity to extend credit with minimal paperwork within a short time.
Source – PIB