The government on Wednesday said food grains worth Rs 3.63 crore (Rs 36.3 million) were damaged in 2009-10 fiscal in the godowns of Food Corporation of India (FCI), but this was over 70 per cent less than last year.
FCI, the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of food grains in the country, had handled rice and wheat worth Rs 1,27,761 crore (Rs 1227.61 billion) last fiscal, out of which the damaged grains were valued at only Rs 3.63 crore, an official statement said.
In 2008-09, food grains worth Rs 13.03 crore were damaged out of total stock value of Rs 1,23,885.6 crore, it said.
In terms of percentage, the loss of food grains in 2009-10 was just 0.003 per cent (value wise) of the total stock handled by the FCI.
FCI had handled 422.91 lakh tonne of wheat and 452 lakh tonne of rice last fiscal. In 2008-09, the agency managed 382.28 lakh tonne fo wheat and 530.95 lakh tonne of rice.
The government data showed the wastage of food grains in the FCI godowns has been declining consistently since 2007-08 fiscal, when the damage was recorded at Rs 22.33 crore (Rs 223.3 million).
