Norway has 5.6 million inhabitants. (Photo: Shutterstock)
The Norwegian government signed an agreement on Tuesday to stockpile grain as the Covid-19 pandemic, a war in Europe and climate change have made this necessary.
The agreement for the storage of 30,000 tonnes of grain was signed by Minister of Agriculture and Food Geir Pollestad and four private companies. The wheat, which will be owned by the Norwegian government, will be stored by the companies in facilities across the country.
In a statement, the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food said building an emergency stockpile of food grains is about preparing for the unthinkable.”
Norway will sign further supply contracts in the coming years, with the aim of building up the reserve until 2029. The goal is to stockpile around 82,500 tons of grain by the end of the decade “so that we will then have enough grain for three months of consumption by the Norwegian population in a crisis situation that may arise,” Pollestad told Norwegian broadcaster NRK .
As of the first quarter of this year, Norway has 5.6 million inhabitants.
Last year, the Scandinavian country said it would spend 63 million crowns ($6 million) a year on grain supplies.
Norway had stored grain in the 1950s, but closed its storage sites in 2003 after deciding they were no longer needed.
However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Norway set up a committee to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of its emergency preparedness systems, which recommended stockpiling grain products.
The oil-rich country, which has backed Ukraine, also hosts the Global Seed Vault on the Spitsbergen archipelago, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the North Pole.
Since 2008, gene banks and organizations around the world have deposited nearly 1 million seed samples into the vault to support their own collections in case of man-made or natural disasters.
The Norwegian government financed the construction costs, while an international non-profit organization is paying for the operational costs.
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First print: June 25, 2024 | 6:23 PM IST