Uttar Pradesh to build 5,000 warehouses for farmers

LUCKNOW: To allow farmers to store their produce safely and get a fair price for their efforts, UP government has planned on constructing about 5,000 warehouses across the state, with at least one for every 10 villages.
Eventually, said a government official, there will be one warehouse for every single village. “The scheme is expected to cost Rs 2,500 crore and will increase the storage capacity of the state by 8.60 lakh tons.It will provide huge relief to farmers by not only helping them protect their produce during natural calamities like rain and fire, but also in getting better rates as storing foodgrains properly will prevent them from rotting,” he said.
At present, the official explained, farmers are forced to sell off their produce at whatever rate they are offered as they cannot store their grains and therefore wait for a better offer. The buyers are aware of this situation and use it to exploit the farmers.
“Other than helping increase the income of the farmers, the warehouses will also create employment opportunities for rural youth as there will be a requirement of caretakers, accountants, security personnel, supervisors,” the official said.
In July this year, the cabinet had cleared a major change in the UP Warehousing and Logistics Policy-2018, which allowed land for warehousing and logistics to be made available at industrial rates. Earlier, one had to pay commercial charges for warehousing, which was four times the industrial charge. This would make land substantially cheaper for those planning to set up warehousing and logistics facilities in UP.
In May, the warehousing and logistics sector was also accorded the status of ‘industry’ to bring down the cost of setting up units and change of land use from agricultural will now cost 35% of the circle rate as applicable for industrial uses against 150% of the circle rate applicable for commercial use.