Bangladesh
Silo Country to build eight modern silos
Dhaka, June 24: Eight modern silos for food storage will be constructed in the country. Of these, contract for four silos have been signed, the other two have been tendered and two more silos are in the process of being tendered.
The information was given at the signing ceremony of the contract for the construction of Barisal Silo and online monitoring of Food Department offices and food warehouses across the country at the conference hall of Khadya Bhaban on Thursday (June 24).
This silo built in Barisal is the fourth. Earlier, agreements were reached to build three silos in Mymensingh, Tangail and Brahmanbaria. Besides Khulna and Naogaon, there are plans to build silos in two other parts of the country.
It is learned that three of the eight silos are being made for wheat and five for rice storage. These silos have a total capacity of five lakh 35 thousand metric tons.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder was the chief guest at the signing ceremony. Food Secretary Moshammat Nazmanara Khanum was the special guest at the function presided over by Director General of Food Department Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
"Food conservation was a big problem for us. Our old warehouses are ruined. If rice was kept there, it would be damaged in two-three months. For this, these constructions will be completed by 2025 to increase the food storage capacity. And three silos are expected to be completed by December this year," the Food Minister said.
"Besides, we have plans to build 200 'Paddy' silos in different parts of the country. Of these, 30 have been approved by the ECNEC. These paddy silos will have the facility to dry the paddy of the farmer. As a result, farmers will be able to sell wet paddy directly," he added.
"Due to high moisture content in farmers' paddy, we often cannot buy it. Paddy silos will solve that problem. Farmers will be able to sell up to 24 per cent wet paddy to the government," the Food Secretary said.
Meanwhile, on the same occasion, an agreement was signed for online monitoring of food department offices and food warehouses across the country.
