Budget 2024: Potential support for the government's vast grain storage program

 Budget 2024: Potential support for the government's vast grain storage program

India intends to expand its present 145 million tonnes of grain storage capacity to 215 million tonnes. The government has started a massive project around Rs 1 lakh crore to build storage facilities throughout the nation.

In May of this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a massive plan of Rs. 1 lakh crore to use the cooperative sector to build India the greatest grain storage capacity in the world. symbolic image

The ambitious government grain storage program is anticipated to get more funding in the Union Budget for 2024, since it is essential to meeting the goal of doubling agricultural revenue.

India intends to expand its present 145 million tonnes of grain storage capacity to 215 million tonnes. The government has started an ambitious project around Rs 1 lakh crore to build storage facilities throughout the nation.

A nation with more than 140 crore people has to build additional storage facilities quickly in order to satisfy food security targets.

Plans to establish a large-scale decentralized storage capacity were revealed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget for FY 2023–2024. During her address, Sitharaman said that these facilities would assist farmers in storing their goods and selling it at the right time for a profit.

Additionally, the budget for 2023–24 included a capital spending of more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the agricultural sector, which was 5% more than the Revised Estimate (RE) for 2022–23.

Of this, Rs 1,15,532 crore—5% more than RE 2022–2023—was set aside for farmer welfare, financing programs like PM Kisan, interest subsidies, and crop insurance plans.

In order to promote farmer welfare, Sitharaman also emphasized the need to expand the cooperative sector and establish new multifunctional societies in undeveloped rural regions. An announcement was made about a fund of Rs 2,516 crore to computerize 63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).

Additionally, the government has decided to use PACS as its main means of constructing additional storage facilities and relieving state storage organizations and the Food Corporation of India of their influence.

In May of this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a massive plan of Rs. 1 lakh crore to use the cooperative sector to build India the greatest grain storage capacity in the world.

The plan called for PACS, or Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, to oversee food storage and silos. Every block in the nation would have 500–2000 tonne storage facilities installed as part of the plan. The original plan was for launching a trial program in ten districts with the goal of eventually expanding it to the whole nation.

Maintaining food security is crucial for controlling the cost of agricultural goods at retail. Due to a variety of seasonal causes, including unexpected rainfall, supply constraints, or global influences, retail prices of numerous agricultural goods have substantially increased.

A robust network of storage facilities will provide a steady supply of goods all year long while controlling costs.

Additionally, grain storage facilities would aid in the reduction of post-harvest losses, which in the case of India are believed to be as high as 40%. Lowering these losses will boost the amount of food available and the season's total crop output.