Procurement Of Food Grains Research Articles

Reconfiguration of food grain supply network amidst COVID-19 outbreak: an emerging economy perspective.

The procurement of food grains from farmers is one of the biggest challenges under the COVID-19 outbreak due to country-wise lockdowns. The present study aims to reconfigure the existing food grain supply chain network. The study advances the extant literature by proposing a novel mathematical model that considers the government guidelines issued to procure food grains from farmers under the COVID-19 situation. The model includes personal distancing, a key parameter relevant in the COVID-19 crisis, and has remained unaddressed in the existing literature. The proposed model is tested in India. The effect of different parameters like personal distancing cost, carbon emission cost, fixed cost, and transportation cost is also investigated under a given set of procurement centers. Finally, the procurement schedule for each procurement center is generated, which is especially useful for managing its activities and is also helpful to farmers to streamline the process. Results indicate that the proposed model is highly effective under pandemic emergencies like the current COVID-19 crisis. Policymakers and the government will find this model helpful in drafting relevant policies regarding food grain procurement under emergencies such as the COVID-19 outbreak. The distribution segment of the supply chain network is not part of the present research work. In future studies, this part could be then added to the whole of the procurement process, and both procurement and distribution can be assessed together again.

Staggered public procurement of food grains in Punjab: New policy regime

Punjab has been significantly contributing to the central pool of food reserves. But the marketing efficiency of farm produce must be improved in the context of new policy regime. The present study was undertaken during 2019–20 to examine the farmers’ perspectives and challenges that emerged in the initiation of an alternative procurement approach for foodgrains. The results revealed that the marketed surplus of wheat was around 232 q and about 90% of the wheat production is being sold in the market. The selected farmers sold about 95% of their marketed surplus in the postharvest period and just 5% sold during the lean period in case of wheat crop. Further, among all the categories, the large farmers sold their produce in a lean period followed by medium and small farmers. The month-wise pattern of the total market arrival clearly revealed that more than 90% of the wheat arrived during the month of April and May and prices of wheat crops fluctuate during the lean period. On the other hand, the largest volume of paddy arrived in the month of October and November and paddy price remained almost at par with MSP in the post-harvest period. By considering all the aspects, it was found that the scheme of staggered procurement is feasible for the wheat crop only as the majority of farmers were willing to adopt this scheme. In the whole process, the additional income to the farmers comprises a sum of ₹ 900 crores in the marketing season of the wheat crop.

Safe grain storage- post harvest technology: an Indian perspective

Due to green revolution and technological advancement in crop production, India has attained sufficiency in food grain productivity, yet a large population in our country goes hungry. The major reason for this is the postharvest losses that occur during storage, procurement and distribution. Factors such as improper and inadequate storage facilities, climatic conditions, ineffective management policies lead to physical, chemical and biological deterioration of food grains. Abiotic factors such as grain moisture content, temperature, initial grain condition and aeration system are crucial considerations for safe storage. Biological deterioration and losses due to fungi, mites, insects, birds and rodents are also significant. In India, Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the nodal agency, under the Ministry of consumer affairs, responsible for procurement of food grains at minimum support price (MSP), movement of produce to deficit regions, public distribution system (PDS) and maintenance of buffer stocks. Government of India constituted a high-level Shanta Kumar Committee in 2014 to recommend ways to rationalize and minimize postharvest losses, in addition to the already existing government policies. Futuristic approach to prevent these losses are to have bold and proactive reforms in India's grain management systems by implementing the recommendations of the Committee, using appropriate storage protocols, continuing subsidy only to the poor under Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), controlling the subsidized grain distribution under NFSA (National Food Security Act-2013), intervention of private sectors and liquidation of stocks to contain inflation.

Public Procurement of Paddy in Bangladesh: Implications for Policy

Public procurement of foodgrains in Bangladesh has significant implications for production and public foodgrain stock. Boro is the main rice crop cultivated in Bangladesh. During the 2019 boro harvest season, farmers in Bangladesh, particularly smallholder farmers, were adversely affected by low paddy prices. This paper assesses to what extent boro farmers could sell their paddy to the government, evaluates the efficacy of direct paddy procurement from farmers and examines options for improving Bangladesh’s foodgrain procurement system. Relevant actors in the boro paddy procurement system were inter- viewed, including boro-growing farm households, rice millers, traders, and government officials. We have also conducted a study in West Bengal, India, to explore alternative paddy procurement systems. Using evidence from Bangladesh and West Bengal, we propose two policy options for rice procurement in Bangladesh. First, when the paddy price is low and does not cover farmers’ production cost per unit, the government can purchase paddy directly from farmers to provide necessary price support. Second, when the paddy price is high, the government can purchase rice from the market through open tender to build or replenish public foodgrain stocks.

Effective public procurement of food grains: A case of India under differential charges

The procurement of food grains by the government agencies under the Indian food program has been an important policy towards the achievement of self-reliance in food grains production. However, the rising food subsidy, especially in the last decade, including a skewed procurement pattern, raise various concerns before the policymakers. In this paper, an effort is made to provide a policy direction to move towards a balanced procurement plan across the states and to reduce the relevant operational cost. A game-theoretic model is formulated with three players: the central agency, a surplus state, and a deficit state for representation at three different levels. It has been found that a quantity-based incentive to the deficit state would address both the issues. The optimal incentive would depend on the amount of change in procurement in a state. However, beyond a threshold value, it would have no impact on the optimal incentive. Procurement cost parameters of the deficit state are more sensitive not only for the decrease in the relevant operational cost but also for the balanced procurement between the states. Besides, with a rise of the inter-state transportation cost, the scope of relevant operational cost reduction before the central agency increases.

Covid-19 and some contours of India’s ongoing agrarian crisis

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an aggravation of the agrarian crisis in India. The rural proletariat, poor peasants, and a section of middle peasants in India have been adversely affected. The paper advances a composite policy initiative to deal with this aggravation of the agrarian crisis involving an expansion of the existing rural employment guarantee schemes, various input subsidies to farmers, universal provision of safety gear for rural producers, and an expanded public procurement of food grains. It concludes with the political prognosis of the proposed composite policy initiative.

Implications of Food Price Shocks on Availability of Food: Evidences from the Indian Economy

In the backdrop of liberalized trade of agricultural commodity in post WTO regime, reform measures is reflected in the change of domestic prices vis-à-vis international prices of food articles. Physical availability of food is purposively selected as a food security indicator in this paper due to its conceptual linkages of food price movement and domestic food supply. A declining trend in the per capita availability of food grains in the post reform period suggests a net export of food grains. Government intervention in procurement and distribution of food grains helps in insulating the shock of food prices in post food crisis situation. Empirical evidences also suggest that there exists a bi-directional causality in between relative price and net export, or food grains production, or government procurement of foodgrains. A responsive change in foodgrains production, net imports, foodgrains procurement and change in the government stock is followed by food price shocks.

Modelling supply chain network for procurement of food grains in India

The procurement of food grains from farmers and their transportation to regional level has become decisive due to increasing food demand and post-harvest losses in developing countries. To overcome these challenges, this paper attempts to develop a robust data-driven supply chain model for the efficient procurement of food grains in India. Following the data collected from three leading wheat producing Indian regions, a mixed-integer linear programming model is formulated for minimising total supply chain network costs and determining number and location of procurement centres. The NK Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (NKHGA) is employed to cluster the villages, along with a novel density-based approach to optimise the supply chain network. Sensitivity analysis indicates that policymakers should focus on creating an adequate number of procurement centres in each surplus state, well before the start of the harvesting season. The study is expected to benefit food grain supply chain stakeholders such as farmers, procurement agencies, logistics providers and government bodies in making an informed decision.

An analysis of Indonesia’s shrinking food security policy space under the WTO

Achieving food security remains a challenge for many low- and middle-income countries, including Indonesia. The aim of this study was to assess the policy space to implement food security policy in Indonesia under the World Trade Organization (WTO). The policy space for developing countries to implement administered prices for agricultural commodities is significantly circumscribed by the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) under the WTO regime. In particular, the procurement of foodgrains at administered prices is considered “trade distorting support” and limited under the amber box. This study describes the food security policy context in Indonesia, compares existing food procurement expenditure to Indonesia’s commitments within the AoA, and evaluates the implications of different options proposed regarding public stockholding for food security purposes at the WTO. Administered prices and public procurement form part of Indonesia’s long-term commitment to food security policy, and aim to stabilize food prices for producers and consumers. Indonesia’s procurement of rice has been rising as a percentage of value of production (VoP). It is still under the de minimis limit (10%), but the applicable permissible limit on procurement has declined by nearly half, in terms of volume. This indicates that the policy space for providing product specific support is declining, as inflation is not accounted for under the AoA method of calculation. Of the different options that have been tabled to take into account inflation, using the Wholesale Price Index as a deflator increases the policy space the most. The peace clause deliberations at the WTO are of critical importance to the Government of Indonesia, as their policy space becomes increasingly constrained. In the near future, Indonesia may need to invoke the peace clause to restrain other countries from challenging its food security program.

Effectiveness of the Public Distribution System: A Critical Review

Public Distribution System (PDS) started from 1997 for providing essential commodities like rice, wheat, sugar etc. to a large number of people through a network of 5.35 lakh Fair Price Shops (FPS) on a recurring basis at a subsidized price to boost food and nutritional security in India. Whether the PDS is effective to reach targeted people is under serious concern. The problem arises as supply exceeds demand at Minimum Support Price (MSP) of food grains. Over the last 7 years, the average procurement of food grains (rice and wheat) has been around 25 per cent of production. The rising MSP of foodgrains during the last 7 years which enhances the chance of increased subsidy amount given by government resulting increased quantity of food grains procurement and inflation in input prices at constant Central Issue Prices (CIP). Gulati and Saini [1] evaluated under various studies- since 1999-2000 to 2011-12 which narrates about rising leakages of food grains from 9 per cent in 1999-2000 to 36 per cent in 2011-12. In terms of absolute quantity of grains pilfered, of the total quantity of 25.91 MMT pilfered, UP stands at the top with almost 4 MMT (15.3%) pilfered from PDS in 2011-12. There are 39.6 per cent poor having ration cards and 60.4 per cent poor having no cards. There are 26.3 per cent non-poor having ration cards causing inclusion error. The exclusion error is severe as a Type-II error causing 70.5 per cent total in India. There are many loopholes in PDS, leading to ineffectiveness and inefficiency in achieving its objectives. It needs reforms like the transparent selection of beneficiaries, universalization, end to end computerization, more commodities to be included, an effective grievance redressal agency, ADHAAR based PDS, the inclusion of innovative schemes like food coupon, smart card etc. More or less, the innovative mechanism in PDS has to be assessed before implementation to enhance effectiveness and check further error.

Survey on Quality of Foodgrains Procured from Farmers: A Case Study in Punjab

A study on the efficiency of procurement of food grains from farmers on quality norms was carried out in the state of Punjab. The survey involves collection of foodgrains viz., wheat and paddy from farmers in mandies/procurement centres from 2008 to 2016. The samples of paddy were analysed for their quality parameters in respect of content of various refractions such as, foreign matter, damaged grains, discoloured, shrunken, shrivelled, weevilled, immature grains and moisture. In paddy and wheat, the analysis results revealed the extent of its quality in which the refractions content of paddy and wheat were observed to lie within the quality specifications formulated by the Government of India (GOI)for their procurement during Kharif and Rabi marketing season to supply to the consumers through Public Distribution System (PDS) and other welfare schemes.

Farmers, Procurement and Agripreneurship in India

India is facing a major crisis in the agriculture sector on various fronts, be it infrastructure building or procurement of food grains. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been following the conventions laid down by the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), 2004 but there are certain systemic problems still. A more fundamental reform of the system is needed and I posit that a public-private partnership model, which has an element of agripreneurship in it, would help India not only in sustainable agricultural practices but also in poverty alleviation, as it has in Africa.

WTO and policy space for agriculture and food security: issues for China and India

The US has challenged the product-specific support to foodgrains by China in the WTO claiming that China has breached its commitments under WTO by providing more than US$100 billion as product specific support to wheat, rice and corn in 2015. The main issue is the price support backed procurement of foodgrains for food security purposes. India too implements this type of policy, this case also has implications for India as well. China implements the Minimum Procurement Price policy for price stabilization, protecting farmers from price volatility and manage food supplies. India too procures foodgrains mainly rice and wheat at Minimum Support Price (MSP) for distribution to the poor at subsidised prices through the public distribution system (PDS). In fact, with 320 million people in India and China being undernourished, ensuring food security remains a major concern in both the countries. To verify US claim about the extent of domestic support in China, in this paper we examine the policy space available for product-specific support in China and India. Our findings show that as against the claim of product-specific support of more than US$100 billion it is just US$17 billion. It also highlight different aspects of food security, domestic support in US and the need for a level-playing field in international trade.

Food Grains Storage: A Study of Central Warehousing Corporation of India

Warehouses play an important role in storage of food grain articles in bulk. In India, these are basically owned by Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and State Warehousing Corporations (SFCs). There is burgeoning issue of the improper storage of food grains now-a-days. In this article, an attempt has been made to study the storage capacity available with Central Warehousing Corporation for the period of nine years i.e. from 2005-06 to 2013-14. The data with respect to storage capacity available and its utilization have been collected and compiled from the annual reports of CWC. Moreover, an attempt has also been made to study the total storage capacity with Food Corporation of India and State Warehousing Corporations along with Central Warehousing Corporation. The study reveals that there has been no significant increase in the storage capacity as compared to increase in the procurement of food grains.

A study on the efficacy of the Public Distribution System in India with special emphasis to the functioning of agricultural warehousing agencies

The study analyses the effectiveness of the public distribution system in India with special emphasis to the functioning of public sector agricultural warehousing agencies such as Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), engaged in the procurement, transportation, storage and distribution of food grains. The data for the period of 2007-08 to 2011-12 has been collected from secondary sources and has been interpreted. The study shows that the current procurement trends of food grains would not sufficient to meet the allocation and the future requirements in the twelfth plan period. The per capita net availability of rice and wheat declined marginally, while the total availability of cereals and other pulses increased significantly. The total cost of food subsidies contributed about 5 % of agricultural GDP during the last 5 years. The main reason for increase in economic cost of food grains is the higher procurement prices which also lead to rising food subsidies. Instead of open-ended procurement policy in India, a need-based procurement system has to be implemented. I. Introduction: India has seen tremendous progress in agricultural produce as it has quadrupled its food grain production since independence. Indias food grain production has mounted over 250 million tons in 2011-2012 from a mere 120 million tons in 1980. Rice and wheat accounts for over 75% of all food grain output. These staples are vital for household food security and constitute a major source of calories especially for over 300 million deprived populations in the country. (Rehman et al., 2012). Given that about two-third of Indian population make their income from agriculture and an average Indian household spends about 30% of its budget for food grains, the structure and efficiency of Indian food grain marketing is not negligible in Indian economy. Food grain marketing consists of all the activities involved in the movement of food grains from producers to consumers. In order to ensure food security in the nation, Government of India formulated a food grain management strategy focused on procurement of food grains at remunerative prices from the growers; its storage and movement; maintenance of buffer stocks and ensuring availability of food grains to the public at reasonable prices. The overall responsibility for management of food grains given to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Ministry of Food and Public Distribution, Govt. of India. The procurement of food grains by Government is primarily intended to provide remunerative prices to farmers, thereby avoiding distress sale of food grains; and to build up a stocks to ensure the supply of subsidized food grains to the needy and poor. The responsibility for distribution of food grains to the beneficiaries vests with the respective State Governments. The Public Distribution System (PDS) is the most important channel through which the Government ensures food security at the micro level. India has a large programme of public distribution, mainly food grains, through a network of Fair Price Shop (FPS), both in rural and urban areas. With more than 460 thousand FPS, its reach in rural areas is sometimes better than the open market. The PDS is the largest food subsidy programme in India, and perhaps in the world. It reaches out to nearly 10.5 crores households in the country and provides food grains at subsidized rates. Despite this, India continues to have one of the worst track records globally, as far as the commitment to tackle hunger and malnutrition is concerned. (Bhat and Hussain; 2012). However, PDS in India was widely criticized for its failure to serve the population below the poverty line, its urban bias, negligible coverage in the states with highest concentration of rural poor and lack of transport and accountability ( Sawant and Jadhav, 2013). In 1997, the Govt. of India launched a revised scheme of distribution known as the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) to benefit the poor and to keep the budgetary food subsidies under control to the desired extent One of the foremost objectives of the TDPS is to insulate the poor form rising market prices for food grains Under TPDS, food grains were distributed as a two-tier delivery system to households below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL), with each BPL family receiving a set quota of food grains per month at heavily subsidized prices. The TPDS is an important instrument of policy aimed at reducing poverty through the mechanism of delivering desired requirements of food grains at highly subsidized prices to the population below the poverty line. In addition to TPDS, Govt. of India initiated a number of schemes to further support the deprived such as Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Annapurna scheme,

Agricultural diversification and self-sufficiency in the state of Jammu and Kashmir

This paper has investigated the process of crop diversification and has identified the factors that facilitate the process of diversification in Jammu and Kashmir agriculture. Various measures of crop diversification have been used to explore the extent of diversification or specialization across crops and districts. The Transformed Herfindahl Index, Entropy Indices of diversification and gross cropped area (GCA) under non-foodgrains were regressed on different explanatory variables. The study has revealed that the crop sector is gradually diversifying in favour of high-value crops. The analysis of the extent of diversification at regional level,has shown that the Jammu division is witnessing a specialization in foodgrain crops, while the Kashmir division is depicting a trend towards diversification. Further, an analysis of determinants that facilitated the crop diversification has revealed that all the factors (area irrigated, road density, farm size, fertilizer-use and rainfall) considered under study have significantly affected crop diversification in the state, except fertilizer-use. However, the situation in terms of self-sufficiency of food crops in the state has been found quite dismal, as the demand and supply imbalance in food crops is continuously increasing with the rising population, resulting in huge procurement of foodgrains from other states of the country.

The potential benefits of reallocation of government subsidies in Bangladesh

AbstractIn this study subsidies are treated as both an element of government expenditure and a source of household income. The impacts of reallocating existing subsidy expenditure to selected alternatives are estimated upon factors such as growth, employment, personal saving indirect tax and import using a semi‐closed input‐output model. The results indicate substantial scope for deriving additional benefits by reallocating the existing subsidies on foreign wage earnings and urban food ration (enjoyed by the richer classes) to fertilizer, foodgrain procurement or rural food rations (enjoyed by the poorer classes). Reallocation of fertilizer or rural food ration subsidies have no benefits. The benefits of reallocation to production activities are higher than for consumption activities.

Foodgrain supply, distribution, and consumption policies within a dual pricing mechanism: a case study of Bangladesh

The study was designed to describe the role of public distribution in Bangladesh, to identify groups benefiting from the public foodgrain distribution programme and assess their income and nutritional status, to assess the cost of the public foodgrain distribution programme, to show the inter-relationships between the public and market distribution systems and deduce their policy implications, and to evaluate the performance of domestic procurement of foodgrains in general and the relative advantage of price support versus fertilizer subsidy policies in particular. The study takes a systems approach to food distribution, although it does not employ simulation as such. Chapter 3 examines the workings of foodgrain supply, distribution, and consumption historically and at present. Chapter 4 takes the information on the operation of the food system, analyzes the interrelationships of its various components, and projects several possible production and import scenarios for 1980. The analysis then turns to the effect government actions have on the system. Chapter 5 explains how public food distribution changes the consumption levels of various income groups, and Chapter 6 examines the role government procurement plays in the wide seasonal fluctuations of domestic rice prices. Finally, the paper explores two alternative policies to augment aggregate supply by increasing production

Wheat procurement in India in 1974 and related matters

During the past three years India has been in the grip of a food crisis. To mitigate it, the country relied on domestic food-grain procurement in order to maintain the food distribution system for the benefit of ration card-holders. For a variety of reasons procurement lagged behind requirements, and hence the reliance on costly imports. Apart from the merit of food self-sufficiency in a country like India, the import practice cannot be sustained as a steady diet because of the serious drain on foreign exchange reserves. The country's only option is sharply increased production. India's physical and human resources make this possible despite monsoon vagaries, the precondition being that targets and implementation ride in tandem.

An Experiment in Foodgrain Procurement: A Case Study in Planning in an Underdeveloped Area

An Experiment in Foodgrain Procurement: A Case Study in Planning in an Underdeveloped Area