National Conference of Food Ministers to discuss food security among other crucial issues
The conference will serve as a platform to reflect upon the challenges and opportunities for achieving the transformation of the food and nutrition security ecosystem in the country and lay down the roadmap for 2023-24.
The National Conference of State Food and Civil Supplies Ministers is going to be held in the national capital Delhi today (Wednesday). Kharif procurement, PMGKAY and food and nutritional security will be discussed in the meeting. It will be chaired by the union Minister for Food, Consumer and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal.
The Ministry of Food, Consumer and Public Distribution has said in a statement that food ministers and food secretaries of states across the country, including Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, would be present at the conference. Piyush Goyal will present the nine year’s achievement booklet and Sugar-Ethanol Portal at the conference.
The conference will serve as a platform to deliberate on the challenges and opportunities as well as prepare guidelines for the financial year 2023-24 to achieve the transformation of food and nutrition security ecosystem in the country.
It is the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, which is organizing this conference, which is aimed at developing an action plan for the procurement of coarse grains during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2023-24.
Key initiatives undertaken by the Government for effective implementation of PMGKAY, disseminating best practices of States/UTs, and strengthening the focus on food and nutritional security, will be discussed in the meeting.
The key highlight of the conference would also include discussions on the implementation of SMART-PDS, Supply Chain Optimization, grading of procurement centres, and transformation of Fair Price Shops (FPSs), among others.
The conference will serve as a platform to reflect upon the challenges and opportunities for achieving the transformation of the food and nutrition security ecosystem in the country and lay down the roadmap for 2023-24.
In the last 9 years, the Department of Food and Public Distribution has undertaken numerous initiatives ensuring targeted and timely delivery of food grains to the poor and vulnerable sections of society. The implementation of the flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) from January 1, 2023, has further enabled the provision of free food grains to nearly 80 crore beneficiaries.
Discussions and strategizing on crucial agendas concerning procurement of coarse grain or millets, grading of procurement centres, effective implementation of PMGKAY, implementation of SMART- PDS, the launch of sugar-ethanol portal & 9-year achievement booklet by the Union Minister, rice fortification and various other important topics, will be done during the meeting.
All the participants will be exchanging ideas, insights, and best practices to enhance the functioning of the food and civil supplies sector.
