INFRASTRUCTURE FOR AGRI WAREHOUSING MANAGEMENT

FOOD AND AGRI BUSINESS The Indian food chain is very fragmented and complex and is dominated by small players at the farm level. The problem of poor harvest infrastructure is the presence of several layers of intermediaries between the farmer and the factory A large number of whom have an adverse affect on both the final price and the quality of the product. Poor harvesting techniques Inadequate post harvest infrastructur e Wastage of a large percentag e of the raw produce

FACTS AND FIGURES India, the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. India has a location advantage:;It is geographically close to key export destinations (Middle East, South East Asia) USA is the top destination for processed products from India Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and UAE are the other major destinations for Indian exports India produced million metric tonnes of fruits and million metric tonnes of vegetables. India wastes fruits and vegetables worth Rs 13,300 crore every year: Emerson study. Fruits and vegetables account for the largest portion of that wastage.

FACTS AND FIGURES India has 6,300 cold storage facilities unevenly spread across the country, with an installed capacity of million metric tonnes. Cold storage capacity for all food products in the country should be more than 61 million metric tonnes The fruit and vegetable sector in India is underdeveloped. Less than 2% is being processed as against 30% in Thailand, 70% in Brazil, 78% in Philippines and 80% in Malaysia. Value addition in the food sector is as low as 7%

MAJOR PROBLEMS The agriculture sector suffers from serious inadequacies :  Rural road and rail networks to transport farm produce to markets  Lack of reefer transport or cold storage facilities  Irregular supply of electric power

MAJOR PROBLEMS OF FOOD INDUSTRY Lack of sorting facilities Inappropriate packaging Slow transport systems Inadequate storage

EFFORTS/SOLUTIONS Some states facilities are being set up at certain levels. Andhra Pradesh, one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables, is trying to provide matching post harvest infrastructures. It is developing cool chain facilities for mango growing areas. There are 11 grading and packing centers in Himachal Pradesh with an installed capacity of 37,500 tonnes. Similarly, Jammu and Kashmir also developed apple grading/packing centers in six locations New Delhi has recognized 106 packing houses in Maharashtra (97), Andhra Pradesh (5), UP (2), Karnataka (1) and Gujarat (1) which have facilities of international standards for grading and packing of fruits and vegetables, particularly for exports.

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FOOD GRAINS Between 8 to 10 % of food grains do not reach the consumers resulting in an estimated loss of Rs crores. Nearly 10 million tons each of wheat/paddy are procured in 45 days for which sufficient godown space is not available. As much as lakh mt of wheat is lying in Punjab lakh mt (worth Rs crores) of wheat is stored in open and lakh mt is stored in covered godowns. Nearly half would lie like that for two years, one-third for 2-4 years and the rest even for longer periods. The grain is stored in gunny bags, costs Rs. 315 crores annually, and 3 percent (Rs. 9 crores) need replacement annually.

FOOD GRAINS It is stored on wooden crates (costs Rs crores annually) and covered with polythene (annual expenditure Rs crores). Losses during storage are colossal. The open storage means no moisture control and that damages as well as discolours the grains. It is further destroyed by rodents (3.5 per cent loss), insects, pests and diseases (2.2 per cent). losses during transport and handling (2.2 percent). Movement of paddy through railway rakes is inefficient.

SOLUTION Losses can be reduced by adopting modern methods of mechanical handling and scientific storage systems. Worldwide grain is stored in silos protected by damage from variations in temperature and moisture conditions. It is procured and transported in bulk. The bulk handling procurement centres with facilities for drying, cooling, sterilization and storage could be established in India too. The preliminary cost estimates are Rs crores for approximately 10 Million Tons of silo storage

ESTABLISHING COLD CHAIN A cold chain provides an un-interrupted umbrella cover of controlled temperature and humidity for perishable products from the point of harvest to consumption. Thus, setting up a cold chain means a continuous management of temperature and humidity at the production centre, during transportation to the wholesale markets and beyond and storage at intermediate points as well as around the markets. It begins with pre-cooling to remove field heat at harvest sites and concludes at the retail-shelf under similar conditions of controlled temperature and humidity. The infrastructure required includes cold storages, reefer vans and refrigerated vehicles. The technology involves controlled atmospheric storage and modified atmosphere packaging.

AGRO MARKETING COMPLEX Haryana Government has set up an Integrated Agro-Marketing Complex at Rai. The complex would provide ready access to high tech processing and infrastructure facilities. The resulting economies of scale in production and shared distribution would reduce overheads. The complex would receive agricultural produce for value upgradation by grading, sorting, packaging, storage, and distribution. The infrastructure in the complex would include agricultural produce handling systems, properly designed product flow layouts, modified atmospheric cold storage godowns, covered platforms, weigh-bridges, storage, waste management, quality control and certification systems. The complex would mainly handle marketing of raw materials. For processing, a separate facility is being set up in the neighbourhood of this complex.

FOOD PARK It is claimed that in the Food Park the processing costs would reduce and efficiency increase for the business which share such things as expensive processing equipment, packaging, storage, shipping and receiving facilities, product transportation, labour, infrastructure, effluent management systems and maintenance. Low cost of operation, speedy institutional and government clearance, easy availability of raw, material, access to major consumer markets, and support services are all aimed at creating state of the art food processing complex all under one roof.

AGRO PARKS & SPECIAL AGRO- ECONOMIC ZONES Boasting easy availability of immense volume of high quality raw materials such as food grains, sugar, and potatoes. UP is setting up Agro Parks for upgradation of raw material using state of the art integrated facilities and infrastructure available at competitive prices. The locations of the Agro Parks (Kerela, Karnataka, Tamilnadu etc.) have been carefully thought out as these places meet all the prime imperatives for developing agro- based processed food industry. The existing infrastructure and available resources will be interactive to create a new environment. Setting up of food processing industries in the vicinity of major mandis and cool chains/post–harvest management will get priority through these parks.

BULK STORAGE OF FOOD GRAINS

INTRODUCTION The Royal Commission on Agriculture (1928) recommended establishment of licensed warehouses. Warehousing Corporation Act of 1962 established the central and state warehousing corporations. Through several decades, the concern had been to create storage facilities so that the farmers, particularly marginal and small, were not forced to sell their produce immediately after harvest in a glut market

NATIONAL POLICY ON HANDLING, STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF FOODGRAINS Most countries in the world have established bulk handling and movement food grains. It minimizes the throughout time and the overall cost of handling and transportation. Specially designed wagons, special bulk wagons designed with either top filling, bottom discharge or side discharge are very much crucial to the success of whole operation. Indian Railways have also introduced Containers of different capacity which are moved on flag wagons of different places.

NATIONAL POLICY National policy aims at modernizing and upgrading grain handling system through : 1)Encouragement of mechanical harvesting; cleaning and drying at farm and mandi. 2)Transportation of grains from farm to silos by specially designed trucks. 3)Construction of a chain of silos at procurement as well as distribution. 4)Transportation of grain from silos to railhead and thereafter to pre-determined destinations by specially designed trucks/rail wagons (with top filling and bottom discharge mechanism)/dedicated trains.

PRIVATE PARTICIPATION IN WAREHOUSING Involvement of private sector in providing infrastructure for bulk transportation of grains to the 'mandis' or to the silos, as well as value addition facilities like drying, cleaning etc. became necessary.

The private participation would be through bidding and the brief responsibility of the bidders shall be - 1) System design and engineering of storage and handling system. 2) Design, selection and provision of bulk wagons compatible with operations in Indian railways system. 3) Transportation logistics from procurement to distribution storages

CHAPTER 3 BULK STORAGE OF GRAIN: SILOS

SILOS

Silos are essentially storage structures used for short and long term storage. silos have been considered more appropriate for bulk storage under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity. Bulk Silos of various capacity from 5,000 metric tons to 1.00 lakhs metric tons will be required to be constructed at different locations. The whole idea is to move food grains in bulk in specially designed wagons from receiving end and surplus area of north and go up to the deficit areas of the South. The infrastructure required for bulk storage of grain is highly capital intensive

ROLE OF SILOS IN FOOD GRAINS STORAGE The grains have been procured and transported in bulk and then stored in silos protected from damage due to variations in temperature and moisture conditions. They are varyingly designed for different capacities expressed as diameters and constructed from different types of materials with eye on efficiency and utmost economy in filling, unloading and handling systems.

TYPES OF SILOS The silos may either be metal or concrete structures. The metal silos may roughly cost about 40 per cent of the concrete silo. A silo system includes preparatory units like cleaning and drying equipment. These increase the capital cost but are essential. The actual material required for constructing a silo, be that steel or concrete, is manufactured in India.

ADVANTAGES OF A SILO Silos offer several advantages depending upon their layout and automation. The mechanical devices such as conveyor belts arrangements for automatic aeration, etc. are used for automation. While mechanization makes silos comparatively more capital intensive. They require less land and less time for construction Silos use less labour in operations, handling is rapid and the overall operating cost low. Being a closed structure, aeration in a silo can be tightly controlled and fumigation operations can be carried out more easily The storage of grain in a silo is possible for longer periods without much damage through spillage and rodents.

GODOWNS

GODOWNS AND SILOS A godown is mostly used for bagged storage of all kinds of the commodities. On the other hand, a silo is more suitable for wheat, paddy and some other commodities. Unlike a godown, a silo is built for storing a particular commodity. Where land and labour are more expensive, as in the urban areas and around the ports, the horizontal godown would be relatively expensive. In these situations, a vertical silo, which takes very little land, and requires much less labour may be ideally suited for bulk turnover due to automatic, mechanical arrangements. In India, the horizontal godowns are more common Both godowns and silos meet different requirements for storage.