Patna: In a significant stride toward strengthening the rural economy, the Bihar government’s Cooperative Department has completed the construction of 6,158 warehouses in Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and Vyapar Mandals across the state. This effort, part of the state’s warehouse construction scheme, has created approximately 16.91 lakh metric tonnes of storage capacity, offering a major boost to the state’s agricultural infrastructure.
A total of 6,994 warehouses have been sanctioned under the scheme, with 836 currently under construction. The initiative is designed to ensure the safe storage of agricultural produce, thereby reducing post-harvest losses and empowering farmers economically.
The warehouses are being built with storage capacities of 200, 500 and 1,000 metric tonnes. The funding structure includes a 50% grant and a 50% revolving capital component, repayable over 10 years in 20 half-yearly instalments. To cut costs and speed up implementation, government land is being prioritised for construction.
Revised construction costs have been set at Rs 17.12 lakh for a 200 metric tonne warehouse, Rs 34.59 lakh for a 500 metric tonne unit, and Rs 72.67 lakh for one with 1,000 metric tonnes capacity.
Emphasising transparency and quality, the scheme includes district-level monitoring and regular inspections by engineers and senior cooperative officials. Construction funds are released in four stages, ensuring adherence to quality standards at every phase.
The large-scale warehouse construction is expected to play a key role in rural economic development by reducing dependency on private storage, enhancing farmers’ bargaining power, and enabling better price realisation for their produce.
