Mandhal Village(Nagpur):
In a country where a considerable number of families still sleep hungry, food grain rotting due to lack of storage space is possibly the worst phenomenon still left unchecked.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling on grain distribution to the poor, the grain rotting episodes have turned into a saga. Now, Mandhal village in Nagpur has seen more than four thousands sacks of soyabean rotting out in the open.
A bumper crop this season led to high production, but as the market yard ran out of space and unseasonal rains unleashed fury over the farmers, celebrations turned to sorrow for them.
Now, the quality of the stocks have declined so much that the farmers worry if they can sell the leftovers even.
''It's all because of the rains. It's become black and swollen and soft,'' said Shivnath Nakhate, a soyabean farmer.
At these desperate times, almost all farmers of the Mandhal village have the same story. They are all trying hard to sell out whatever is remaining of their soyabean crop.
''The traders are not buying our stock. They are offering Rs. 500 less than the market price for every 100 kilos,'' said another distressed farmer Arun Rangari.
The irony of the situation is so that the farmers now have no way but to heed to the demands of the traders. All this, after having a good crop season.
''We don't get any support from the government. The farmers have to pay us to keep their stocks. But we don't have enough storage, nor do we get grants to expand our capacity,'' said Rambhau Nirgudkar, the Deputy Chairman, Agricultural Produce Market Committee.
But even as the lack of food grain store houses in the country is turning out to be an acute problem, there appears to be no immediate solution in sight.