BHUBANESWAR: After piloting Baisinga large area multipurpose cooperative society (LAMPS) of Mayurbhanj district in the first phase, the Cooperation department has identified 78 primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) for pilots under world’s largest grain storage plan in cooperative sector.
The Ministry of Cooperation had requested the state government to identify one primary cooperative society for the phase one pilot project and one each from other districts to be taken up in the second phase. The department is in the process of shortlisting the PACS/LAMPS on the basis of size of land available with the society for development of grain storage of 500 tonne to 2,000 tonne capacity.
The creation of decentralised storage capacity at society-level will reduce food grain wastage by creating sufficient storage capacity, strengthen food security of the country, prevent distress sale of crops and enable farmers to realise better prices for their crops.
The Centre is providing interest subvention under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and subsidies available under identified schemes will utilised for the construction of godowns. Financial resources available with PACS will be spent on construction of the storage. The primary societies are flush with funds as they are generating revenue through commission during paddy procurement, sources said.