Chandigarh: Construction of warehouses under the world's largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector has been completed in 11 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) across 11 states.
The Government of India will create a 700 lakh tonne storage infrastructure with an investment of over Rs 1.25 lakh crore over
the next five years across the country under the 'World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector', a move aimed at reducing the losses to farmers due to lack of an adequate number of godowns and warehouses.
Decentralized storage capacity is being built at the PACS level.
"Under this pilot project, the construction of warehouses has been completed in 11 PACS across 11 states," the Ministry of Cooperation said in a social media post.
This grain storage plan introduced in the cooperative sector will help prevent the wastage of food grains and enable farmers to get a fair price for their produce, it added.
In February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the pilot project of the 'World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector' in 11 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) across 11 states.
The creation of the massive 700 lakh tonne storage capacity would help farmers to store their produce and sell it at the right time according to their own needs while also helping to avail loans from banks, Modi said at the event held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
Godowns to be set up in PACS will also provide the latest farm equipment to farmers on nominal charges.
The Government of India had created a separate 'Ministry of Cooperation' about three years ago to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
In this short span, more than 55 new initiatives have been taken for the progress of the cooperative movement.
A lot of emphasis has been given to strengthening PACS through computerisation projects, and also enabling them to diversify in areas like ration shops, Common Service Centres, and storage facilities.
National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT), an autonomous society promoted by the Ministry of Cooperation, is a key player in the promotion of organisations in the cooperative sector. Besides other activities, it creates awareness among farmers and provides them with skill training.
The NCCT, in collaboration with the Warehouse Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA), conducted 212 programmes for farmers to create awareness in 2022-23. More than 10,700 farmers had participated in the programmes.
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