Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Sunday said the capacity of food grain warehouse in Bangladesh will be increased to 3.5 million tons.
“There is storage capacity of 2.18 million tons of food grains. Currently, we have over 2 million tons in stock. There is no space left to store more food grains,” he said while talking to reporters after the inauguration ceremony of a newly constructed local storage depot (LSD) in Naogaon.
Eight modern steel silos across the country are nearly complete to address this issue, the minister said.
“This initiative will increase the overall storage capacity by 650,000 tons. Additionally, the government has approved the construction of 200 paddy silos with a capacity of 5,000 tons each, with 30 already got approval,” he said.
“If paddy silos are constructed, even if farmers bring wet paddy, there will be an opportunity to store it. The wet rice will automatically dry, eliminating the need to reject the farmers' produce due to moisture,” he added.
The minister added that a buffer godown will soon be constructed in Naogaon.
“Fertilizer dealers in Naogaon face various adversities while lifting fertilizers from the buffer godown in adjacent Santahar. This step has been taken to ensure the supply of fertilizers for the farmers in the agricultural district of Naogaon,” he said.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar urged consumers to refrain from eating polished rice and advised millers to remain free from the rice polishing process.
This is because polishing causes significant nutrient loss in rice, explained the minister.
