Accelerating Public Private Partnership in Agricultural Storage Infrastructure in India

Agriculture occupies a prominent position in Indian economy, not only because it accounts for 17 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) but also engages more than 50 per cent of the country's workforce. However, Indian Agriculture is confronting the major challenges with respect to ever growing population to feed, reducing natural resources, increasing global competitiveness, deficiency of scientific storage facilities, and above all, uncertainties of the monsoon and changing climate. The small farmers do not have the financial strength to hold the produce with them and are unable to get better off season prices of their agricultural produce. The government buys food grains from the farmers but likewise does not have the space to store it. Every year tonnes of food grains go waste because of inadequate storage and infrastructure facilities. Due to inadequate infrastructure facilities Post-harvest losses accounts an average 10 to 25 per cent, being particularly high in horticulture, livestock and fisheries. Large investments are required in developing agricultural markets, quality certification, warehouses, and cold storages. Such large investments are possible only with the participation of the private sector. Public-private partnerships are a key mechanism to develop and deliver a reliable stream of technology in the face of changing demands. Collaborative partnerships can effectively bridge the gap between public and private sector's distinctive competencies in order to meet farmer's needs. The objective of this paper is to summarize the issues and challenges facing the agricultural warehousing, to find out the gaps in Storages/Warehouses in India and attempt to find possible solutions to bridge this gap. The study is based on secondary data taken from different sources.