The largest food grain repository or silo in South Asia with a capacity of 1.5 million metric tons is going to be launched in June next year.
As the various materials for constructing silo are stuck in different ports in the face of pandemic-stagnated situation, the authorities concerned have rescheduled the construction completion time of June 2020, said an official.
Project Director of Ashuganj Modern Food Storage Project Rezaul Karim Sheikh told Bangladesh Post, “Despite Covid-19 situation, the project has achieved 76 percent progress till now. As a few construction materials vital for silo construction have not arrived in the country timely due to the pandemic situation, we have rescheduled our project completion time to June next year."
However, this will not increase the project implementation cost, he added.
In view of the pandemic situation, the government feels that there is a need to increase the capacity of food grains in the country. Therefore, the government has taken a plan to increase the food grain storage capacity of the country to 35 lakh tonnes by 2030.
Food grains can be stored in silo for a long time. It will also eradicate the existing natural disaster problems caused to food storage. Besides, rice produced in the eastern part of the country including Brahmanbaria can be collected and stored very easily. If required, rice can be easily imported or exported to seven states of India including Tripura.
According to sources, there are currently five large silos, 13 central silos (CSDs) and 631 local silos (LSDs) in the country. The capacity of these silos or food warehouses is about 20 lakh tonnes.
To facilitate the country’s farmers, the government is going to construct eight modern food silos which are expected to be completed by 2025. Besides, three silos are being constructed in different districts. Three of the eight silos are being made for wheat and five for rice storage. These silos have a total capacity of 5.35 lakh tonnes.