Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananth Kumar gave away an award to the State's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah in New Delhi on Thursday for the successful use of silo storage capacity in Madhya Pradesh. Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Nihal Chand was also present on the occasion.
It is noteworthy that the novel initiative of safe storage of wheat in silo bags was undertaken at the behest of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in view of shortage of jute bags for storing massive quantity of wheat during procurement in previous years. Union Minister Ananth Kumar called for a green plastic revolution without harming environment. He said that eco-friendly plastic should be used in agriculture sector. Madhya Pradesh is the first State to use silo bags for food grains' storage.
The award to Madhya Pradesh was presented during the 4th National Award Programme of the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry in the category of safe storage of food grains in silo bags.
Use of silo bags for safe storage of food grains started in Madhya Pradesh from year 2012-13 when 20 thousand 677 MT wheat was safely stored in silo bags at Babai in Hoshangabad and Gauharganj in Raisen district. Following this, 1.31 lakh MT wheat was stored in year 2013-14 and 2.78 lakh MT in year 2014-15. Private sector investors have been encouraged for storage of food grains in silo bags. For excellence in storage works and innovation of safe storage through silo bags, Madhya Pradesh has also been conferred Best Innovative State Warehousing Corporation of the Year Award by Indian Chamber of Commerce in March 2013.