Context: 

Recently, the Government has announced a plan to set up the “world’s largest grain storage plan in cooperative sector”.

World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector in India

• A pilot project has been inaugurated in 11 primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) in 11 States under the plan.

• The Government plans to set up a storage infrastructure of 700 lakh metric tons over the next five years at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
  • This will enable farmers to store their produce and sell it at the right time according to their own needs. & help them to avail loans from banks. 

Key Features of World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan

• Reduction of Post Harvest losses from existing 6% : 
  • This decentralized storage will reduce food grain wastage, enhancing national food security. 

• Drastic reduction on multiple handling and transportation cost: This approach minimizes transportation costs between procurement centers, warehouses, and FPS.
• Prevention of distress sale by farmers at low rates:
  • Farmers will have options to avoid distress sales, leading to better prices. 
• Decentralized procurement by FCI/State Government: 
  • Acting as procurement centers for State Agencies/Food Corporation of India (FCI), and Functioning as Fair Price Shops (FPS). 
  • Integrate PACS godowns with the food grain supply chain, with a collaborative effort of NABARD and spearheaded by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
• Storage based “Hub” and “Spoke” model: 
  • Establishing Custom hiring centers. 
  • Creating common processing units for sorting, grading, and more. 
• Convergence of Existing Schemes: 
  • This plan helps in convergence of various identified schemes like Agriculture infrastructure fund (AIF), Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure Scheme, and Allocation of food grains under National Food Security act 2013, Procurement Operation at Minimum Support Price etc.