First Meeting of National Level Coordination Committee for World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan

IN SHORT 
The largest grain storage plan in the world's National Level Coordination Committee (NLCC) met for the first time in New Delhi. Key representatives from several ministries and stakeholders attended the conference, which was organized by Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation. The committee discussed on expanding the effort to 500 more Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and reviewed the state of the pilot project in 11 states. By combining many government programs, the effort seeks to establish decentralized agricultural infrastructure, such as processing plants and warehouses.

Meeting Highlights

• First Meeting: The Ministry of Cooperation in New Delhi held the inaugural meeting of the NLCC.
• Key Participants: The Managing Director of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and Secretaries from the Ministries of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Food and Public Distribution, and Food Processing Industries attended the meeting.
• Review of Pilot Project: Earlier this year, the committee evaluated how a pilot project that was started in 11 states was being carried out for the largest grain storage plan.
• Infrastructure Development: At the PACS level, the strategy calls for building processing units, warehouses, fair pricing stores, and custom hiring centers for largest grain storage plan.
• Integration of Government Schemes: The project integrates a number of current government projects, including the Pradhan Mantri, the Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), and the Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM).
• Decentralized Warehouses: Secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani highlighted the goal of developing decentralized warehouses in order to set up them across the country.
• Cooperation: The NCDC, NABARD, Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), and NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) are collaborating on this pilot project in cooperation with the States and Union Territories.
• Plans for Expansion: With funds from the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), state governments, and NCCF, the pilot is being expanded to 500 more PACS.
• Additional Identification: States, UTs, and national cooperative federations such as NCCF and NAFED have identified additional PACS for the purpose of developing storage capacity and other agricultural infrastructure.
• National Rollout: The committee talked about connecting godowns with different stakeholders and the next steps for taking the project to a national scale.

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