Piyush Goyal puts thrust on modern technologies for foodgrain storage managment

New Delhi [India], February 13 (ANI): Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal has asked Food Corporation of India to use modern technologies in foodgrain management and for quality control, thus bringing more transparency and minimum human interface.

Goyal reviewed the operations of its procuring agency Food Corporation of India, UP Region, in Lucknow on Sunday. As per a release, minister Goyal, during the review meeting, directed FCI officials to use their expertise in the field of foodgrain management and suggest the better design of godowns in order to create higher capacities in limited areas of land.

While reviewing the issues related to wheat and paddy procurement, he directed that FCI should open more procurement centres covering almost all revenue districts so the farmers have the option to sell their produce to the procuring agencies. Keeping in view the demand, population and vast geographic area of Uttar Pradesh, the Union Minister directed that more quantity of wheat should be offered in the open market sale scheme to control the market price of wheat.

On January 25, the government said FCI would offload 30 lakh tonnes of wheat from the central pool in the markets under the Open Market Sale Scheme, within the next two months, for containing the rising domestic prices of the staple foodgrain.
Food Corporation of India offered 22 lakh tonnes of wheat out of 25 lakh tonnes earmarked in the first e-auction through the open market sale that took place last week.

The next e-auction of wheat under the open market sale scheme will be held across states on Wednesday. The commencement of the e-auction of wheat in the open market in order to cool the staple food grain’s prices has already left an impact as the government said they retreated over 10 per cent in the past one week.

The e-auction will continue throughout the country every Wednesday till the second week of March 2023.