Dealing with grain glut

This year's paddy procurement season has started with foodgrain stocks being more than double the buffer stock norms. An increase in grain stocks will put a strain on the already-scarce warehousing space, with consequences for safe storage and usability. Thus, excess holding of grains ought to be avoided. Maintaining a stockpile of nearly 55 million tonnes, with average economic cost of wheat and rice being Rs 18,000 per tonne, would mean locking up resources worth Rs 1,00,000 crore. Worse, it would push up the food subsidy bill to over Rs 90,000 crore this year. 

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