Ensuring food security in the state, the Uttarakhand Government has informed that the WFP has agreed for opening up 50 more grain banks in the villages of border districts like Pithoragarh and Chamoli – Two border districts of Uttarakhand.

The World Food Programme (WFP)-supported ‘Grain Bank’. launched two years ago, is already successfully running Grain Banks in 55 villages in three districts of Uttarakhand including in Dehradun, Tehri and Uttarkashi.

The Grain Banks which are jointly run by state government and WFP, are a unique concept of providing food security to the people. Under the Grain Bank model -- 40 quintals of ration is provided to each Grain Bank. Women from the community manage these banks. Moreover banks store food at the village level. Villagers can borrow ration from the banks and return the quantity after the harvest. With a provision of empowering community heads to fix an interest rate on the food loan. In short, the idea behind the concept is levying marginal interest is to strengthen banks in the long run.

With most of poor families in Uttarakhand already brought under the ambit of BPL rationing of the Central Government plus very small land holdings in the state, it’s hard to ascertain the role played by these Grain banks.

But if you live in any village with WFP supported grain bank; you are welcome to share your views on Uttarakhand Portal regarding the real impact of these grain banks.
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