Lucknow: The state cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to provide land free of cost to the Uttar Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation for the construction of warehouses in Jhansi and Lalitpur.The warehouses are proposed to have a total capacity of 65,000 metric tonnes.Finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said that this would provide major relief to farmers. He said that in a recent review meeting of the cooperative department, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the relevant departments to coordinate and provide land for the construction of warehouses in Bundelkhand, with the aim of promoting storage infrastructure.The Uttar Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation operates under the cooperative department. The facilities will enable the safe and scientific storage of various agricultural products, including pulses, oilseeds and millets (such as sorghum and pearl millet).Farmers in Bundelkhand often face hardships and losses due to challenges like drought and erratic rainfall. With access to adequate storage facilities, farmers will be able to keep their produce safe during adverse market conditions and sell it at an opportune time, officials said.This will help preserve the quality and value of the agricultural produce, strengthen the agricultural marketing system and contribute to an increase in farmers’ incomes.Officials said that this would minimise the wastage of agricultural produce and lead to significant improvements in the supply chain. The construction and operation of these warehouses would also create direct and indirect self-employment opportunities at the local level through activities such as transportation, loading and unloading, maintenance and other support services.
