The Union government was mulling over selling excess foodgrains to some African countries before the new Kharif procurement season starts next month, according to a government official. A new trade agreement between India and Ghana as well as other African countries is yet to be signed. According to the consumer affairs ministry, Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns were spilling over due to excess buffer stocks. In the month of August, 2019, the total buffer stock was 71.1 million metric tonnes (MMT), which was double the food stocking norm of around 36.1 MMT. The development comes even as a recent report showed that every two out of three Indian children under the age of five died due to malnutrition. The country provides cheap grains to 797 million out of its total 1.3 billion population under its flagship scheme National Food Security Act (NFSA). It provides 5 kg grains (Rs 3 per kg of rice and Rs 2 per kg of wheat) per person per month. For this, India requires around 4 million tonnes of grains every month.
— source downtoearth.org.in | 20 Sep 2019