India 2018

Food and Civil Supplies 277
Augmentation of Storage Capacity
In order to cope with increasing production and procurement of foodgrains,
the Department is implementing private entrepreneurs guarantee (PEG)
scheme for augmenting the covered storage capacity in the country. Under
the PEG scheme, which was launched in 2008, godowns are constructed in
PPP mode and the land and construction cost is borne by the selected
partners. FCI on its part guarantees 10 year usage of storage capacities to the
private investors and 9 years to CWC and SWCs. Locations for construction
of godown are identified by the FCI on the basis of recommendations of
state level committees to cover the gaps in storage. For consuming areas, the
storage gap is assessed on the basis of the 4 months' requirement of PDS and
OWS while for procuring states the storage gap has been assessed based on
the highest stock levels in the last three years, and keeping in view the
potential of procurement. Under the scheme, a capacity of 137.45 MT has
been completed in 20 states out of total sanctioned capacity of 150.15 lakh
MT by May 2017.
As a part of the modernization of storage facilities, modern storage
facilities in the form of steel silos are also being created in Public Private
Partnership. Each silo will have capacity of 25,000 or 50,000 MT. This will
mechanize the existing supply chain and improve operational efficiency.
Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority
For the growth and development of warehousing sector, to bring reforms in
the agricultural marketing and to increase credit flow in the farm sector, the
government introduced a negotiable warehouse receipt system in the country
by enacting the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2007
which is an place since 2010. The government constituted the Warehousing
Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) in 2010 for implementation
of the provisions of the Act. The Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs)
issued against stocks of farm produces deposited by the farmers in
warehouses would help the farmers in seeking loan from banks. It would
help the overcoming the situation of distress sale of agricultural commodities
by the farmers during peak harvest season. Warehouses need to be registered
with the WDRA for issuing NWRs. The warehouses are inspected by the
empanelled inspection agencies prior to grant of registration to ensure that
basic requirements of scientific and safe storage of agricultural and other
commodities are fully met by the warehouses.
The Authority has notified 123 agricultural commodities including
cereals, pulses, oilseeds, spices, vegetable oils, edible nuts and other
commodities like rubber, tobacco, tea, coffee makhana, etc. and 26
horticultural commodities such as potato, dehydrated onion, garlic, ginger,
turmeric, apple and resins for issuance of NWRs.