Punjab records maximum food stock damage in past five years in India
CHANDIGARH: Punjab, considered the food bowl of India, recorded food stock damage of 8,226.04 metric tonne (MT) of Food Corporation of India (FCI) in the last five years. Punjab topped the list, followed by Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha. These figures were placed on record in the Lok Sabha by the Union Minister for state of consumer affairs, food and public distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya in reply to an unstated question asked by Delkar Kalaben Mohanbhai, Member of Parliament from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. As per the figures placed in the parliament showed that the cumulative loss over five years in Punjab stood at 8,226.04 MT of this the lowest was in 2020-21 at 25 MT, then 100 MT in 2021-22, then 264 in 2022-23, then 7,746 MT in 2023-24 and 91.04 in 2024-25. The second highest was in Tamil Nadu with 3,001.39 MT damaged in 2024-25, as only 7 MY in 2023-24 bringing its total to 3,008.39 MT. Then followed by Haryana at 2,511-MT loss in 2023-24, Uttar Pradesh the highest 2,254.32 MT in 2024-25, before that 2 MT in 2023-24, 47 MT in 2022-23, 78 MT in 2021-22 and 69 MT in 2020-21 taking its overall figure to 2,450.32 MT. Meanwhile, Maharashtra recorded an accumulated 2,856.68 MT of damaged stock over five years, including highest 1,985.68 MT in 2024-25 and Odisha reported 1,157 MT, mostly from 1,145 MT in 2020-21. But Punjab recorded the sharpest single-year damage, several other states reported sizeable losses. Also year-wise and commodity-wise assessments of damaged wheat and rice along with valuation were given. The highest recorded value of damaged food grains in the period was for rice in 2024-25, amounting to Rs 13.06 crore, linked to 0.072 lakh tonnes of damaged stock against an off take of 259.55 lakh tonne, translating to a 0.028% loss. For 2023-24, rice damage stood at 0.012 lakh tonnes, valued at Rs 2.06 crore. Wheat losses were recorded as 0.01 lakh tonnes in 2020-21, 0.004 lakh tonnes in 2022-23, and 0.0067 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, with corresponding values of Rs 0.64 crore, Rs 0.46 crore, and Rs 0.814 crore. The reply also stated that no central pool foodgrains got damaged due to insufficient FCI godowns. The overall storage capacity of Punjab is 174 lakh MT, comprising 124 lakh MT under the Food Corporation of India and another 49 LMT with state agencies.
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