Post-harvest profile of red gram - Agmarknet

3.6.3 Storage facilities:i) Producers’ storage:Producers store Red gram in various types of traditional and improved structures.Generally, these storage structures are used for short period. Different organizations/institutions have developed improved structures for storage with varying capacities andshapes like Hapur kothi, Pusa kothi, Nanda bins, PKV bins. These are usually constructed ona raised platform or plinth constructed of plastered mud brickwork, stone slabs or woodenplanks. Some producers also store Red gram in jute gunny bags or in gunny bags lined withpolythene stacked in the room.ii) Rural godowns:Considering the importance of rural storage in marketing of agricultural produce, theDirectorate of Marketing and Inspection initiated a Rural Godown Scheme, in collaborationwith NABARD and NCDC, to construct scientific storage godown with allied facilities in ruralareas and to establish a network of rural godowns in the States and Union Territories. Upto31-12-2002, 2373 new construction godown projects were sanctioned through NABARD andNCDC with the total storage capacity of 36.62 lakh tonnes and 973 godown projects havingthe capacity of 0.956 lakh tonnes under renovation and expansion under this scheme. Themain advantages of Rural Godown Scheme are as under:i) To prevent distress sale of food grains and other agricultural commodities immediatelyafter harvest.ii) To reduce quantitative-cum-qualitative losses due to storage in sub-standard godowns.iii) To reduce pressure on transport system during the post-harvest period.iv) To help the farmers in getting pledge loans against the stored produce.iii) Mandi godowns:Most of the States and Union Territories have enacted Agricultural Produce Market(Regulation) Act. The reduction of loss of produce was aimed in the scheme of regulatedmarket. The regulated markets developed modern market yards with necessary infrastructuralfacilities. The APMCs have constructed godowns so that the agricultural produce brought intothe market should be stored safely by market committees. The produce is weighed in thepresence of producer-seller at the time of keeping the produce in the godown after gradingand receipt is issued indicating the quality and weight of produce to be stored. The receipt isissued by the licensed general commission agents or brokers depending upon the case. TheCWC, SWC and Co-operative societies have also constructed godowns in the market yards.In most of the secondary and terminal regulated markets, central and statewarehousing corporations also provide scientific storage facilities at prescribed storage chargeand issue warehousing receipt against pledge of produce, which is a negotiable document forobtaining finance from the Scheduled Banks.iv) Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC):CWC was established during 1957. It is one of the biggest public warehouse operatorsin the country. In March 2002, CWC was operating 475 warehouses all over the countryunder 16 regions, covering total 225 districts, with a total storage capacity of 8.91 milliontonnes. State-wise storage capacity with CWC as on 31-03-2002 is given below:Table No.13: State-wise storage capacity with CWC as on 31-03-200226