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Just last harvest states like Telangana had a glut of rice with no buyers. And now we have this. The whole procurement and storage chain is hopelessly mismanage
by unmole 3y ago
Just last harvest states like Telangana had a glut of rice with no buyers. And now we have this. The whole procurement and storage chain is hopelessly mismanaged in India.
- distortionfield 3y agoIt’s not just India. Trying to grow the right amount of any crop is insanely difficult for all farmers, no matter the region.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoHence the futures markets.
- carlmr 3y agoThe more markets worldwide connect to balance out local weather issues the more predictable the outcome. The problem however is international cooperation when there's global shortages.
- unmole 3y agoThe problem is as old as agriculture itself and we've known the solution too for millinea: Store surpluses that can be used in lean years. But in India procurement, storage and sale of agricultural produce are all wrapped up in a maze of Byzantine laws. As a result, availability of financing and infrastructure is abysmal. The first modern rice silos in the country are only expected to start operations in the next month or so.
- 7373737373 3y agoQuestion: Would it be possible to store foodstuffs at close to 0 Kelvin at scale, indefinitely? Cryopreservation for food instead of people? Which foodstuffs "survive" long-term freezing? How large and economical could large-scale food cryopreservation be?
- tstrimple 3y agoDepends entirely on the foodstuffs in question. Rice can be kept for around 10 years at 70f if you control moisture. If you can control for oxygen, it can last even longer at temps well above freezing. Corn and soybeans are more sensitive to temperature than rice, but the major factor is still moisture and oxygen exposure. It reminds me a bit of the game Oxygen Not Included where early food storage techniques involve keeping it stored in an area saturated with CO2 to reduce the rate at which it rots before you have access to refrigeration.
- TaylorAlexander 3y agoI presume this would not be viable at the scale required for the people who need is most. (And zero kelvin is impractically cold)
- brmgb 3y agoWell, yes, it obviously is and there is no need to go that low. Don’t you have a freezer at your place? Technically food in a cold enough freezer will never get uneatable. It is indeed flash frozen to preserve its texture. The issue is that quality tends to get down with time due to water sublimation.
- gizmo686 3y agoWater sublimation stops at -80c, 193 kelvin. Flash freezing followed by long term storage in liquid nitrogen should be sufficient for preserving quality indefinitely. More practically, while sublimation hurts "quality", it does not harm the nutritional value of the food, so does not seem like that big of a deal in the context of famine policy. For rice it is even less of an issue, because rice is routinly stored dry and rehydrated when cooked.
- blackoil 3y agoWill preserved old rice tastes better than freshly harvested rice. Old rice is normally sold at a premium and preservation is much more simple.
- subtra3t 3y agoYet only around 4.6-6% of total post harvest grain was lost due to storage reasons (according to NAAS). And 0.12% of post harvest wheat and rice (central and state stock) was lost due to storage reasons [0]. Maybe your conclusion applies to fruits or vegetables, of which there indeed considerable storage loss (promarily due to the cold temperatures needed iirc). But I don't think it applies to rice. [0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1147671/india-post-harvest-storage-loss-of-pool-stocks-of-wheat-and-rice/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1147671/india-post-harve...
- anukin 3y agoThen what is the major reason in case of rice. Statista link is behind paywall
- unmole 3y ago> Yet only around 4.6-6% of total post harvest grain was lost due to storage reasons This only accounts for the loss after the grain is procured and not the loss between harvest and procurement. Given the practical challenges of measuring this, I doubt there's any quality data. I can only speak anecdotally but news reports about losses from poor makeshift storage arrangements while waiting for procurement are frustratingly common.
- subtra3t 3y agoIn a country as large as India, the frequency of such losses is bound to be greater than other countries. And a lot of channels exaggerate most news since it is hard to find actual news-worthy incidents that also happen to fit their agenda (which may be pro/anti BJP/congress, etc).
- guiltygods 3y agoHaving no Buyers is politics. Reforms in farm law which would have opened up markets for farmers were repealed because of politics and protest by vested interests.
- unmole 3y agoHaving no buyers is economics. The supply vastly exceeded demand. There were no buyers, private or otherwise because there was glut. Telangana is an arid region. The recent jump in rice production is thanks to the new irrigation projects in the state. The scrapped farm laws were ill-considered and I'll framed. Fun fact: Both, the Produce Trade and Commerce Act and the Agreement on Price Assurance Act expressly barred the jurisdiction of courts in entertaining disputes relating to farming disputes and instead gave authority to the local Collector to arbitrate. That's blatant and shameless executive overreach. And that's not even going into the fact that these Union laws intrude on what is explicitly a State subject.