Incredible India: we have wheat but no gunny bags…or godowns!
New Delhi: when the MPs from Madhya Pradesh created a massive ruckus in the parliament recently, demanding gunny bags of all things, one should read in it a tragedy not a comedy. Simply put, it means that India lacks the skill, the art and the science of supply chain management. In the past few days, the missing gunny bags of India have indeed made news in the national and the distant international press. Gunny bags, godowns, rotting food grains, unwillingness to distribute the largesse before rotting, all these have become part of the India story, along with tales of starvation, malnutrition which nevertheless goes hand in hand with tales of untold wealth and success. So what is it about the gunny bags?
A May 9 report from Karnal mentions that farmers are finding it difficult to offload their wheat stocks in Punjab and Haryana mandis due to shortage of space and bags. The problem has been aggravated with the Food Corporation of India itself storing wheat in the mandis itself. A commission agent told the press “We are finding it difficult to purchase wheat as we are running short of space and bags for storage.”
On the other hand, private traders are playing a waiting game in the hope that prices could drop below the minimum support level of Rs 1,285 a quintal. Up to now, arrivals in Karnal district this year have been a record 8.68 lakh tonnes against 6.04 lakh tonnes last year. New wheat is currently quoted at Rs 1,285 a quintal, the minimum support price.
Another report from Lucknow mentions that owing to acute shortage of storage space, the state government will utilise airstrips in the state to stack wheat. The government is also planning to convert stadiums into temporary storage places. Confirming this, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, Balwinder Kumar said a letter has been sent to the Civil Aviation department of the state for necessary permission to stock wheat at airstrips under its control. “The state has witnessed a bumper crop and we need to adjust the wheat stock. Though the airstrips will not be able to accommodate much stock, we hope 30-40 thousand metric tonne of wheat can be stored,” said Kumar.
The government is also eyeing government polytechnics, stadiums and other open spaces. Usually the polytechnics and staidums have huge open spaces and are covered by boundary wall. “It will be open storage system for the season,” said Kumar. Currently, the Food and Civil Supplies department is on the lookout for any open space which is surrounded by a boundary wall for the storage.
The state government did not make proper arrangements for storage space before the season. It has fixed a target of buying 42 lakh metric tonnes of wheat from farmers. Already 14 lakh metric tonnes have been bought while the purchase season will continue till June 30. As of now, hardly any storage capacity is available with the state authorities.
Currently, there is a storage capacity of nearly 45 lakh metric tonnes. It includes 20 lakh metric tonne space of Food Corporation of India and another 25 lakh metric tonnes of state, including Central Ware Housing Corporation. As of now, all these godowns are full with wheat and paddy from previous seasons.
Amid this, the Centre has announced that the FCI will be constructing silos on PPP model. Silos are storage tanks erected at a height. FCI presently has three silos in UP at Hapur, Khurja and Lucknow with each one of them having a capacity of 25,000 metric tonnes. However, the proposed construction will be available after two seasons.
And in the meantime? Since life and livelihood are mostly about the meantime!