The Government has launched a scheme of construction and renovation of rural godowns. The objective is to provide scientific storage in the rural areas by incentivizing private sector to invest in this area. More than 22,000 godowns with a capacity of about 27 million tonnes have already been sanctioned. This was stated by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Mr. Sharad Pawar while addressing the meeting of the Consultative Committee of his Ministry in New Delhi today. The Minister said, the farmers often sell their produce in distress to square off their debts soon after harvesting. Solution for this problem lies in providing them access to safe and scientific storage and easy marketing credit through a network of rural godowns and negotiable warehouse receipt system.