Men loading sacks of wheat into a truck
WildFilmsIndia
2022-05-28
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India's problem of grain drain! A problem of plenty...?
Despite such acute hunger, waste at this scale can also only happen in India!
India, a rapidly growing nation, shelters more than 1.22 billion people. India represents 18% of the world's population and every 6th person on the planet stays in this country. This large nation is one of the highest producers of wheat in the world and is also ranked 2nd for the number of children suffering from malnutrition.
About 133 miles from Amritsar is Khamanon village in Punjab, a vast wasteland of grains. Tons of wheat bags stocked here have decayed or are now decaying and are not fit for human consumption. Figures say that there was a dip in food grain production in the years 2005 and 2006, leading to the shutting down of many vacant godowns. But the year 2011 saw surplus production and no place for storage. This created a lack of storage space and wheat got wasted lying in wait to get used. The ruined grain has been in the open for almost four years now. Most of it is totally ruined and the remaining is now being used to make beer. The workers here try to salvage what's left in the rotten sacks of wheat over the last four years.
Rough figures say that this year-end will leave India with 75 million tons of grains with a storage capacity of only 63 million tons. This will again leave thousands of tons of food grain out in the open to be attacked by pests and vulnerable to the changing climate. Officials say it is a war-like situation for them and they are trying their best to solve the problem. It is a big task to procure, store and transport this huge amount of food to every corner of the nation. According to them new infrastructure is being introduced for better storage and management of grain. This change will take a few years while the problem needs a solution right now. Social activists say that it is not just storage that needs to be fixed. The excess food should reach the starving millions in the rest of the country. India has the largest number of under-nourished people in the world as reported by the United Nations.
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and [email protected]
Despite such acute hunger, waste at this scale can also only happen in India!
India, a rapidly growing nation, shelters more than 1.22 billion people. India represents 18% of the world's population and every 6th person on the planet stays in this country. This large nation is one of the highest producers of wheat in the world and is also ranked 2nd for the number of children suffering from malnutrition.
About 133 miles from Amritsar is Khamanon village in Punjab, a vast wasteland of grains. Tons of wheat bags stocked here have decayed or are now decaying and are not fit for human consumption. Figures say that there was a dip in food grain production in the years 2005 and 2006, leading to the shutting down of many vacant godowns. But the year 2011 saw surplus production and no place for storage. This created a lack of storage space and wheat got wasted lying in wait to get used. The ruined grain has been in the open for almost four years now. Most of it is totally ruined and the remaining is now being used to make beer. The workers here try to salvage what's left in the rotten sacks of wheat over the last four years.
Rough figures say that this year-end will leave India with 75 million tons of grains with a storage capacity of only 63 million tons. This will again leave thousands of tons of food grain out in the open to be attacked by pests and vulnerable to the changing climate. Officials say it is a war-like situation for them and they are trying their best to solve the problem. It is a big task to procure, store and transport this huge amount of food to every corner of the nation. According to them new infrastructure is being introduced for better storage and management of grain. This change will take a few years while the problem needs a solution right now. Social activists say that it is not just storage that needs to be fixed. The excess food should reach the starving millions in the rest of the country. India has the largest number of under-nourished people in the world as reported by the United Nations.
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and [email protected]
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