In a move which is set to alter the warehousing eco-system in the nation, CWC, NABARD and NABFOUNDATION on August 4, announced the overall framework of a partnership aimed at bringing much required scientific storage and warehouse facilities closer to farmers affiliated to and farmer producers organizations (FPOs). The converged efforts of these behemoths will see state of the art storage facilities being made accessible to over 5,000 FPOs across the country. At a macro level this convergence will also help consolidate the vision of the new farm laws.
Ground level statistics reveal the herculean challenges faced by the farmer community in the post-harvest storage domain. Some 7 million tonnes of foodgrains are estimated to be lost each year simply due to lack of scientific storage. Acclaimed Agri economist, Prof. Ashok Gulati in many of his speeches has pegged this loss of foodgrains at about a phenomenal Rs.45,000 Crore each year. The March 2015 ICAR-CIPET Report on the assessment of quantitative harvest and post-harvest losses had estimated the total volume of losses for all commodities to be about Rs 92,651 crore.
