A UN body, the World Food Program (WFP), has appreciated the preservation techniques being followed in Punjab for the storage of wheat. It has 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.
In a separate communication by the Ministry of External Affairs to the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India on April 27, it had been conveyed that “WFP is highly satisfied with the quality of 10000 MT of wheat provided by India to Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance”.
This quantity of 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 PPP mode with M/s LT Foods Ltd, which shall be visited by the WFP team today.
Terming the recognition by WFP as a matter of pride, the Minister said that Punjab, the food bowl of the nation, had been feeding the nation and now the grain produced in Punjab is feeding people abroad also. It was also 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 Government of Punjab in this regard, he added. Senior officials of the state government and FCI shall be accompanying the team, he said, while assuring full cooperation to the team.
