The Union Home and Cooperation Minister threw light on the status of the creation of the world’s largest storage in the country and informed that a pilot project is going on in several states and union territories. Shah said this in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
“States/ UTs and National level Cooperative Federations, like NCCF and NAFED, have identified 1,711 PACS for creation of storage capacity under the Pilot Project in the country, including 138 PACS in the State of Haryana out of which 15 PACS have been identified by NAFED in the Sirsa District”, said Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
He further said “Presently, construction is going on in 13 PACS of 13 States/ UTs under the Pilot Project, including Madha PACS of Hisar District of the State of Haryana”.
The plan entails creation of various agri infrastructure at PACS level, including warehouses, custom hiring centers, processing units, setting up decentralized godowns, Fair Price Shops, etc. through convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), etc.
“Further, an MoU has also been signed between the Ministry of Cooperation, Department of Food and Public Distribution, FCI and NCDC to ensure full capacity utilization of the storage capacity being created at PACS level under the Project”, Shah’s reply added.
Stressing on the benefits of the initiative, Shah says establishment of decentralized storage capacity at PACS level would reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen food security of the country up to Panchayat and village level.
It will also prevent distress sale of crops by farmers and enable them to realise better prices for their crops. Since PACS would be operating as a procurement centre as well as Fair Price Shops (FPS), the cost incurred in transportation of food grains to procurement centres and again transporting the stocks back from warehouses to FPS would also be saved, Shah underlines.
The project will also provide various benefits to the farmers such as farmers will be able to store their produce in the godown constructed at PACS and avail bridge finance for the next cycle of crop and sell the produce at a time of their choice, or sell their whole crop to the PACS at Minimum Support Price (MSP), which would enable them to avoid distress sale of crops.
They will be able to get various agri inputs and services at the Panchayat/ village level itself. Through diversification of business, farmers will be able to get additional sources of income and through the integration with the food supply management chain, farmers will be able to expand their market size and realize better value for their produce.