Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“Warehousing facilities not up to demand”

CHENNAI: The Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2007, will enable private parties to take part in warehousing business in large numbers, besides regulating warehousing operators, Food Secretary K. Shanmugam said on Monday.

Inaugurating a training programme for trainers to disseminate the salient features of the Act organised by the Central Warehousing Corporation here, he said warehousing was a critical infrastructure which was now lacking. The available warehousing facilities were not commensurate with the demand. All these aspects had been addressed in the Act which, he said, would encourage private participation in warehousing. Farmers could use warehousing facilities not only for storing their produce till they got a good price but also for availing themselves of bank loans with warehousing receipts.

Mr. Shanmugam said that he had instructed cooperative banks to focus on providing loans to farmers by accepting warehousing receipts. The banks could also encourage prospective entrepreneurs to set up warehousing facilities which, according to him, had good potential.

He suggested that the Central Warehousing Corporation bring out booklets setting forth the benefits of the Act. These booklets could be made available in banks and agricultural marketing societies.

C.T. Thomas, Regional Manager of the corporation, said the Act had a lot of relevance to the agricultural market sector: it would help to improve storage for farm produce.

The three-day programme would educate trainers on the relevance of the Act and how it was beneficial to farmers. These trainers would train people at the grassroots, who would pass on the information to stakeholders.

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