Chandigarh, May 4
The World Food Programme (WFP) has put on record its appreciation for the preservation techniques being followed in Punjab for the storage of wheat.
It has also decided to send a team of officials to Punjab to understand the process of procurement, testing and transportation of wheat to Afghanistan in February-March this year so that a similar SOP can be adopted by WFP.
Giving details, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said the five-member team comprising Sandro Banal, Filippo Zunino, Stephanie Heard, Amit Wadhera and Shruti would visit Amritsar on Wednesday to do a firsthand assessment of how long-term storage of wheat is undertaken in Punjab, without deterioration in its quality.
Terming the recognition by WFP as a matter of pride, the minister said Punjab had been feeding the nation and now the grain produced in Punjab is feeding people abroad too. It is creditable that the Western nations are now looking towards India to study preservation techniques for foodgrains and it speaks volumes of the progress made by the Punjab government, he said.
Senior officials of the state government and the FCI would accompany the team, he said, while assuring full cooperation to the team.
In a separate communication by the Ministry of External Affairs to the Union Department of Food and Public Distribution, on April 27, it had been conveyed that “The WFP is highly satisfied with the quality of 10,000 MT of wheat provided by India to Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance.”
The wheat had been moved from Punjab to Afghanistan via land route through Pakistan. The transported wheat had been stored in Pungrain steel silos of 50,000 MT capacity at Mulle Chak Bhagtana-wala, Amritsar, constructed in the PPP mode with LT Foods Limited, which the WFP team would visit on Wednesday.
World Food Programme appreciates Punjab’s preservation techniques for storage of wheat
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