Production and procurement scenario of cereals in major producing states of India
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Date
2020
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Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
Cereals are the staple food for the vast majority of the people in India and across the world. The
present study was conducted to examine the production, procurement, and storage scenario of
cereals in the country and to bring out the problems encountered during the procurement, storage
and handling of cereals by the procurement agencies. The time-series data on area, production,
and productivity of cereals like rice, wheat, maize and jower were collected for the period from
1960-61 to 2017-18, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GOI. Data on cereals
procurement for the period from 2000-01 to 2018-19 and on storage capacities for the period from
2005-06 to 2020-21 were collected from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution, GOI and the official website of Food Corporation of India. Information regarding the
problems faced during the procurement, storage and handling of cereals was gathered through an
e-survey of officials from agencies involved in the procurement and/or storage of food grains in
India. The analysis of compound growth rate of area, production and productivity revealed that the
cereals like rice, wheat and maize showed significant and consistent growth in the area, production
and productivity while jower showed significant downturn in the area and production over the
study period elucidating the poor status of jower cultivation in the country. The procurement
scenario of rice, wheat and coarse grains revealed that the quantity of rice and wheat procured has
more than doubled over the study period, and the procurement as a percentage of production has
also improved at the national level. The quantity of coarse grains procured at the national level has
declined to half of the quantity procured in the initial year of the study period. The share of state
agencies in rice procurement increased to above 98 per cent at national level while increase in the
share of state agencies was relatively lesser in case of wheat procurement over the study period.
The storage capacity with the FCI increased over the years which was mainly due to the increase
in the hired capacity. The results of the survey revealed that the main problem faced during the
process of procurement and storage were; the low quality of the grains brought to the procurement
centers by the farmers, risk of damage due to biotic factors like insects, pests, rodents and birds.
The requirement of large capital to run the FCI, the labour scarcity, especially in the peak periods
of procurement, lack of advanced storage structures were the main concerns from the institutional
point of view. The study identified some policy measures such as; increasing coarse grains
production by giving incentives to farmers, enhancing the storage capacity of the FCI by building
advanced storage structures at the key locations and developing improved scientific methods to
ensure the safe storage of grains.
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Citation
Jeevitha G. N. (2020). Production and procurement scenario of cereals in major producing states of India (Unpublished M.Sc. thesis). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.