Kannur: In an effort to avoid wastage of food grains, the Kerala government converted 596.7 tons of chickpeas to fodder. It was allotted to state through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)
The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) collected the chickpeas worth Rs 3.8 crores that was stationed in the retail ration shops in the state of Kerala as instructed by the govt and given it to Kerala Feeds Limited to turn into fodder in their Irinjalakuda, Kozhikode, Karunagapalli, and Thodupuzha based factories. According to the Kerala daily, Mathrubhumi, they produce 1350 tons of livestock forage daily.
This supply is considered to be beneficial to them as they face scarcity of raw materials due to farmers’ protests in New Delhi.
The Union Govt had provided green gram (green mung) to the state in the initial months of lockdown which was sold like a hot cake following which the central govt replaced it with chickpeas. However, it seems like the Keralites are not a fan of this legume as it remained unsold. Following this, the state govt requested the Centre to distribute the unsold chickpea in monthly food kits. But according to Supplyco, the permission was delayed by four months. A good quantity of chickpeas was said to be wasted in the godowns due to the delay of the permission grant.
Also Read | Jaish-e-Mohammed & Taliban Leaders Meet In Kandahar; India Issues Security Alert
The Centre had directed the state to provide the remaining item to the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cardholders and other categories. Kerala has as many as 39,03,902 ration cardholders in these categories. Earlier, the unsold remaining rice and wheat were given to the non-priority categories in the state.