Lok Sabha Question No. 416 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-19
Subject: Shortage of Storage Facility
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: RAHUL KASWAN, OM PRAKASH YADAV, NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE

O.I.H.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.416

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  19 TH  JULY, 2016

## SHORTAGE OF STORAGE FACILITY

416.   SHRI RAHUL KASWAN: SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE   ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) whether onion and potato farmers across the country are distressed due to fall in prices, lack of storage facilities and lack of food processing units;
- (b) if  so,  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  build  godowns  to  enhance  the capacity  for  storing  onion  and  potato  in  various  States  of  the  country  including Maharashtra, if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
- (c) whether farmers are compelled to sell off onion at the rate of Re. 1 per kilogram owing  to  shortage  of  storage  facility  and  several  farmers  did  not  even  harvest  onion from their fields;
- (d) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government to increase storage capacity for onion and potato in various States of the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã  ½ãñâ  Àã·¾ã  ½ãâ¨ããè (  SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT)

- (a):   Wholesale and retail prices of Onion this year are generally lower than that of the last year in almost all major markets including Maharashtra. On the other hand, potato farmers are getting higher prices this year for their produce.

The  total  cold  storage  capacity  in  the  country  is  around  34  million  MT,  out  of which about 75% is used for storage of potato. Onion usually stored in farm proximate well ventilated conventional storages. Financial assistance for setting up food processing units are provided by Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI). MIDH also provides assistance for establishment of processing units under the sub component of Horticulture Mission for North Eastern and Himalayan States (HMNEH).

(b): Government, through various schemes/mission, is providing financial assistance for  creation  of  additional  cold  storage/cold  chain  capacities  in  the  country  including Maharashtra.  As  on  31.03.2016,  about  34  million  MT  capacity  of  Cold  storage/cold chain infrastructure have been assisted/ created in various parts of the country. State wise cold storage capacity created is annexed.

(c) & (d): Average modal price of onion in Maharashtra has been above Rs. 670/ Qtl and  All  India  average  has  been  above  Rs.  1130/Qtl  since  January  2016  (Source: AGMARKNET).

DAC & FW implements Market  Intervention  Scheme  (MIS)  for  procurement  of perishable  commodities  to  protect  the  growers  of  these  commodities  from  making distress  sale  in  the  event  of  a  bumper  crop  during  the  peak  arrival  period  when  the prices tend to fall below economic levels and cost of production.  Under the scheme, in accordance  with  MIS  guidelines,  a  pre-determined  quantity at the fixed  Market Intervention Price (MIP) is procured by the agencies designated by the state government  for  a  fixed  period  or  till  the  prices  are  stabilized  above  the  Market Intervention Price (MIP) whichever is earlier.  The area of operation is restricted to the concerned state only.

Recently, DAC & FW forwarded the request to various onion producing States including  Maharashtra  to  send  the  proposal  for  procurement  of  onion  under  MIS. However, no proposal has been received from these State Governments so far.

(e): The Government is implementing the following schemes/missions for increasing storage capacity of perishables including onion and potato in the country.

- (i) Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)  of  DAC&FW
- (ii) Integrated cold chain Scheme of MOFPI
- (iii) Scheme of Agricultural Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under ministry of Commerce
- (iv) Scheme of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) under DAC &FW
- (v) Grameen Bhandaran Yojana of DAC&FW

Under  these  schemes,  financial  assistance  in  the  form  of  grants  in  aid  are provided to farmers/entrepreneurs for setting up cold storages/cold chain infrastructure. Under MIDH financial assistance for low cost onion storage structure is also provided.

## State wise Cold Storage capacity as on 31.03.2016

| S. No.   | Name of the State              |   No. |   Capacity (MT) |
|----------|--------------------------------|-------|-----------------|
| 1        | Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) |     2 |             210 |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh & Telangana     |   426 |         1729286 |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh              |     1 |            5000 |
| 4        | Assam                          |    35 |          152706 |
| 5        | Bihar                          |   305 |         1416095 |
| 6        | Chandigarh (UT)                |     7 |           12462 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh                   |    98 |          484557 |
| 8        | Delhi                          |    97 |          129857 |
| 9        | Goa                            |    29 |            7705 |
| 10       | Gujarat                        |   692 |         2570973 |
| 11       | Haryana                        |   318 |          695795 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh               |    53 |          105726 |
| 13       | Jammu & Kashmir                |    33 |          100976 |
| 14       | Jharkhand                      |    57 |          226680 |
| 15       | Karnataka                      |   193 |          548001 |
| 16       | Kerala                         |   196 |           78105 |
| 17       | Lakshadweep (UT)               |     1 |              15 |
| 18       | Madhya Pradesh                 |   294 |         1253715 |
| 19       | Maharashtra                    |   575 |          881860 |
| 20       | Manipur                        |     1 |            3000 |
| 21       | Meghalaya                      |     4 |            8200 |
| 22       | Mizoram                        |     3 |            4471 |
| 23       | Nagaland                       |     2 |            6150 |
| 24       | Orissa                         |   167 |          523139 |
| 25       | Pondicherry (UT)               |     3 |              85 |
| 26       | Punjab                         |   655 |         2152003 |
| 27       | Rajasthan                      |   159 |          521387 |
| 28       | Sikkim                         |     2 |            2100 |
| 29       | Tamil Nadu                     |   168 |          316583 |
| 30       | Tripura                        |    14 |           45477 |
| 31       | Uttar Pradesh                  |  2250 |        13978608 |
| 32       | Uttrakhand                     |    44 |          148921 |
| 33       | West Bengal                    |   511 |         5940511 |
|          |                                |  7395 |        34050359 |

(Source: Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) upto 2009, National Horticulture Board (NHB), National Horticulture Mission (NHM) & Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI))

## Annexure

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