Centre Enhances Accountability In Food Grain Procurement And Distribution

On Friday, the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to improve the efficiency and accountability of food grain procurement and distribution. This step demonstrates the government’s commitment to refining the public distribution system (PDS) and managing food subsidy funds more effectively.

The MoU includes specific performance benchmarks for FCI operations and its depots. These benchmarks focus on optimizing the use of public funds and enhancing the overall performance of food security operations. Key performance parameters for FCI depots include capacity utilization, operational losses, security measures, and modernization and automation of processes.

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The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution emphasized the need for evaluating public expenditure for cost-effectiveness and value for money. This involves benchmarking performance on critical operational parameters and ensuring institutional accountability.

In addition, the food processing sector has grown significantly, contributing more to the country’s economy. The share of processed food exports in agri-food exports increased to 23.4% in 2023-24, up from 13.7% in 2014-15.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has approved several projects, including 41 Mega Food Parks, 399 Cold Chain projects, 76 Agro-processing Clusters, and 588 Food Processing Units under the PMKSY scheme as of June 30 this year. Over the past eight years, the food processing sector has grown at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of about 5.35%.