Rethinking Storage of Food Grains

Rethinking Storage of Food Grains

Rethinking Storage of Food Grains

How storage of Food Grains is a problem for the Government and affecting the life of common man. The problems of inefficient and ineffective management of food grains are creating new diseases and becoming causes for food poisoning. The quality control over food items is required to be re-looked.  

Storage of Food Grains:

India is one of the country known for fast seasonal changes and the rainy season most of the time, left roads flooded with water and originate the insects and mosquitoes leading to various diseases. The summer and winter seasons followed by rains, led to growth of insects and only the items stored in air-tight containers remain safe to use. The agricultural output is sold in markets and stored in godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). But due to higher growth of food grains, it becomes impossible to maintain the safety of food grains as the space for storage became less.

Safety of stored Food grains:

In order to keep the food grains safe, it is required to keep the food grains dry and arrangements are made to prevent from fungal and insect infections. The Government procures the food grains specially wheat and paddy at Minimum Support Price (MSP) notified at the time of sowing the food grains. The FCI made arrangements to store rice, wheat, maize, gram and other agricultural output procured by Government from the farmers and then helps government in distributing the same through Public Distribution System (PDS). The FCI is the only agency entrusted for supporting PDS as per the welfare schemes notified by the Government. The Jute bags and damp proof plinths are used to ensure safety of the food grains. In India, there are four silos, tall towers to store grains; located at Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Hapur (Ghaziabad).

Government Initiatives for effective Storage of Food Grains:

In order to reduce the losses and improve the storage of food grains, the following initiatives have been taken till date:

(i) Construction of Rural Godowns:

The scheme, ‘Grameen Bhandaran Yojana’ is launched for renovating and construction of the rural godowns, to improve the capacity for storing more quantity of food grains.

(ii) Modernization of storage system of Food-grains:

The Government in order to reduce the losses in storing food grains, formulated a national policy known as ‘Handling and Storage of Food Grains, 2000’.

(iii) Silo Storage Capacities:

The most secure system for securing the food grains is Silo Storage and four locations have been used for such storage.

(iv) Instructions to adopt FIFO Method in using Food grains:

To avoid the wastage due to infections, it is directed to use ‘First In First Out’ method for using food grains.

Health Problems from Infected Food Grains:

·         The food grains kept in open, came into the influence of insects, fungal infections due to change in season. This led to creation of mycotoxins in mouldy grains and serious diseases are originated.

·         The FCI uses the ‘First In First Out (FIFO)’ method in issuing and distributing the food grains through Public Distribution System (PDS).  The Mycotoxins are the agents of Mycotoxicoses, a disease which is an acute and very serious disorder. The Mycotoxins can also originate diseases including Cancer.

·         The infected food grains should never be distributed and should be disposed off to prevent such diseases.

·         The cases of food poisoning are increasing due to use of infected food grains in commodities sold in market including Fast food items.

Further Scope for Better Storage:

No doubt, initiatives have been taken for effective storage of food grains but it is also true that the food grains distributed among the poor families through rationing are found of poor quality most of time. The use of such food grains in Mid-day meals, is further very dangerous and it is required to ensure proper storage of food grains. This problem is very critical and requires research to explore the initiatives and best practices for better storage of food grains.

*Copyright © 2019 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.