The government is taking steps to increase the food stock although there is adequate stock of food grains. But the government may face difficulties to store excessive stock of food grains.
Rice stocks have increased at the government level in the country. Stocks have more than tripled compared to last year. At present, the official stock of food grains including rice and wheat (as of March 23) is more than 1.7 million tonnes. The stock was only around 5.25 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the last year.
Sources said the food department may be in trouble with the food procured this year due to the increase in stocks. However, the food ministry said there is no problem for preservation of the increasing rice stock. Various steps have also been taken to increase the field level distribution including OMS and because of modernization of storage system there is no chance of spoilage even if the extra-stock of rice is stored.
Food Secretary Nazmanara Khanum said, “This time our stock has increased a lot as compared to other years. We basically put more emphasis on internal procurement rather than importing. Last year we were concerned due to low stock. But the higher stock of food grains is now satisfactory for us.”
However, the secretary has also said that higher stock of rice will help them increase OMS, Food for Work, and other activities.
Claiming that the rice will not be wasted even if it is stored for a long time, the secretary of the food ministry said, “Aman rice is moisture tolerant and does not rot easily. Even then we are making airtight arrangements in our warehouses. At the same time we are constructing some modern warehouses too.”
According to the Food Department, a total of 4016900 tonnes of food grains have been imported in the first nine months (July 1 to March 23) of the current 2021-2022 fiscal year. Of this, 9580320 tonnes are rice and 3058580 metric tonnes are wheat.
At the same time, the government has imported 1094290 tonnes of food grains. 652660 metric tonnes of rice and 441630 tonnes of wheat have been imported. At present (till March 23) the official food stock stands at 1704370 tonnes. Of this, the stock of rice (including paddy) is 1501480 tonnes and the stock of wheat is 209180 tonnes.
However, during the same period of the last financial year (2020-2021) the stock of government food grains was 527610 tonnes. Of this, the stock of rice (including paddy) was 449,300 tonnes and the stock of wheat was only 75,900 tonnes.
