Overstocking of foodgrains on the grounds of food security needs to be rationalized to utilize the available food stocks effectively. Examine (200 Words)
Refer - Business Standard
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
According to Ministry of Agriculture and farmer, the total inventories in the Central grain pool are close to twice the desired stockpiling of 41.1 million tonnes.
This ultimately inflates the food subsidy.
Reasons for overstocking of food grains
· Overstocking of food grains could be justified in the past on grounds of food security, but not in today’s stable food surplus economy.
· The oversupply of food grains is attributable also to steady uptick in the output of cereals in the absence of a reliable export outlet.
· FCI and the state agencies have mopped up 76.1 million tonnes of staples (33.8 million tonnes wheat and 42.3 million tonnes rice) though the anticipated requirement of the public distribution system and welfare schemes is only around 61 million tonnes. Such imprudence in handling the food economy is untenable.
Measures to utlize the stocks
· Implementation of The Shanta Kumar Committee on the FCI and food sector reforms had specifically cautioned against overstocking in its report presented in 2015 and pointed out that it entailed heavy costs without serving any purpose.
· Offloading of inventories in the domestic or export markets as soon as these tended to exceed the buffer stocking norms.
· The need, therefore, is to reorient crop production in favour of high-value and export-worthy products. Paddy can easily be substituted in the north-western non-rice consuming region with crops like basmati, cotton, maize, soyabean and others which are in demand at home and abroad.
· Haryana has already begun doing so by offering cash incentives and free seeds of alternative crops.
· Similarly, procurement as a means of lending price support to a crop can be replaced with systems like price deficiency payment and direct income support to farmers.
Sandeep 6 years
Kindly review thanks
IAS Parliament 6 years
Try to include few more reasons for overstocking food grains. Keep Writing.
Anisha Sahu 6 years
Kindly review.
Anisha Sahu 6 years
IAS Parliament 6 years
Try to provide the reasons for over stocking of food resources and measures to utilize it effectively. Keep Writing.
IAS Parliament 6 years
We believe that scoring would be counter-productive from beginners' point of view. So we choose not to rate any answer. Keep Following.
DIPANJAN HAZRA 6 years
pls review
alok gupta 6 years
DIPANJAN HAZRA 6 years
IAS Parliament 6 years
Good answer. Keep Writing.
K. V. A 6 years
Pls review
IAS Parliament 6 years
Good answer. Keep Writing.
