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Markfed moots upfront subsidy for grain handling by pvt firms

Vinson Kurian

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Aug. 15

PRIVATISATION of grainhandling will not make sense unless it is supported by the Government Budget and the subsidy amount is made available upfront, according to Mr D.S. Bains, Managing Director, Punjab State Cooperative Supply and marketing Federation ( Markfed).

``I'm sure Markfed can do the job at much reduced costs than the Food Corporation of India (FCI) whose subsidy account runs to Rs 15,000 crore every year,'' Mr Bains told Business Line here. ``We don't mind doing the job if we are given the subsidy amoun t upfront. But, I don't think (the Centre) is willing to do that,'' he added.

The Punjab Markfed had a turnover of Rs 6,000 crore in the last year and is considered to be Asia's largest cooperative dealing in grains trade. Rice trade alone accounted for a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore. Mr Bains was here in connection with formalisati on of the tie-up with the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation for marketing its products in the State. Apart from the `Sohna' brand basmati rice, the Markfed range includes ready-to-eat vegetable products in 450-g cans which are exported in large qua ntities. These products have been prepared under the directions of Mr Jiggs Kalra, internationally renowned culinary expert.

``We are a well-managed cooperative run along professional lines and have consistently made profits during the last decade or so. Last year's profit was Rs 17 crore. Not only do we provide necessary inputs to the farmer, especially agro-chemicals, we als o buy their produce, process some in our own facilities and also market them. Our ready-to-eat food cans are very popular in West Asia, Canada, the US, Australia and the UK. We are doing a business of more than 50 lakh cans every year,'' Mr Bains said.

Markfed owns two separate factories, an agro-chem factory in Mohali and another processing factory. It has been marketing pesticides and insecticides, mainly for wheat, paddy and mother crops. Agro-chemicals has accounted for substantial sales of Rs 30-4 0 crore every year.

The cooperative has entered into a collaboration with Monsanto of the US for manufacture of a weedicide used widely by the Punjab farmer. It has been engaged in aerial spraying of rubber and cashew plantations in Kerala for sometime. Further scope for th e programme is being explored in collaboration with Supplyco, Mr Bains said.

Markfed has exported 2.5 lakh tonnes till now and has not faced any quality problem. ``What the Centre has done is merely depute some agency doing projects and engineering works and which is not attuned to the task of foodgrain handling. This is partly r esponsible for the reverses on the export front, particularly Iraq, in recent days,'' he said.

But, Mr Bains is confident Markfed would be able to meet its target. In fact, it has an ambitious aim of doing 1 mt of wheat by next March. It has also told the Centre that it would like to export rice for which it has orders for 30,000-40000 tonnes. Mar kfed hopes to get the clearances soon and ship out the consignments during this month itself. The rice exports are being sent to Nigeria and some other countries in Africa. The wheat is bound for Philippines, South Korea, Yemen and Dubai.

Asked to comment on reports of food-deficit States as Kerala looking to source grain requirements from foreign countries like Australia as a ``cheaper'' option to moving them in from upcountry silos in Punjab and Haryana, Mr Bains said he did not think i t would work out cheap in the long run. ``We must see the price band over a decade. I'm confident prices will be cheaper if you are buying from within the country. We tend to look only at the rate at which the rice is coming. We are not thinking about th e quality. What Australia is offering is cattlefeed. We should spare some thought on whether we should not strive to sustain our agriculture sector on a long-term basis or revert to imports and create a PL-480 kind of situation,'' he said.