Class 11 Students Visit FCI Cherlapally for Experiential Learning in Economics

22 August 2026 | The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet

A group of 41 Class 11 students, accompanied by the Economics faculty, visited the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Cherlapally,on 22nd August as a part of an experiential-learning initiative that brought classroom Economics vividly to life. Established in 1965 in the aftermath of India’s food crisis, FCI plays a vital role in the country’s food security, and the visit gave students a close look at the vast economic network behind the procurement, storage, preservation, transportation and distribution of food grains.

Students observed the precision behind FCI’s operations first-hand — trucks weighed before and after loading, sacks arranged in scientifically planned patterns to maximise storage, and grain preserved through fumigation and carefully maintained aeration gaps. Officials also explained the strict quality parameters governing procurement, including permissible limits for damaged grains across different varieties of rice.

The visit illuminated the link between food security and economic geography, as students learned how surplus-producing states supply deficit regions through the Central Pool, with the Railways playing a crucial logistical role, and how Centre–State cooperation helps address regional disparities. FCI’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic — transporting nearly 139 lakh metric tonnes of food grains through almost 5,000 railway rakes between March and June 2020 to support schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana — offered students a powerful example of buffer stocks functioning as genuine economic safeguards.

For many students, the visit transformed how they thought about something as ordinary as a grain of rice, revealing the extensive chain of farmers, Minimum Support Prices, quality control, logistics, subsidies and distribution behind it. The experience left students with a far richer appreciation of how classroom Economics connects to the systems that safeguard the nation.

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