File Photo
* Eight
silos are being constructed in the country to strengthen the country's food
security and agriculture sector
* The
Patenga silo will store 1,14,300 metric tonnes of food grains for three years
* This will
ensure safe storage against the effects of climate change including floods and
cyclones
Built with state-of-the-art technology, these silos will have a storage capacity of 1,14,300 tonnes of food grains over several years. Officials of the Food Department said that a total of eight silos are being constructed across the country to strengthen the country's food security and agriculture sector.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar, who is scheduled to
lay the foundation stone for the construction of the silos, said eight steel
silos are being constructed across the country under the World Bank's Modern
Food Storage Facility Project (MFSP), the largest of which is in Chittagong.
Project Director Md. Rezaul Karim Sheikh said that six acres
of land has already been created in Patenga for the implementation of the
project.
"The silo will have a total of nine bins, each with a
storage capacity of 12,700 metric tonnes. Even when food grains are stored for
three consecutive years, the quality will not deteriorate," he said,
adding that the project will cost Tk537 crore, and is expected to be completed
within the next three years.
Regional Food Controller of Chattogram Md Zahirul Islam Khan
told, "The Patenga silo will be able to store 1,14,300 tonnes of wheat.
There will be no more crisis in meeting the country's flour needs."
"Currently, the country has the capacity of storing 22
lakh tonnes of food grains, of which, 4.5 lakh tonnes is wheat," he said.
"The effects of climate change including floods and cyclones are having a negative impact on food production. This steel silo will play an important role in ensuring the safe storage of food grains during natural calamities in the country while keeping the quality and nutritional value intact," Zahirul Islam added.
The existing food warehouses in Chattogram are old. A lot of
food grains have already gone to waste in some places including Dewanhat CSD
due to a number of issues, including a damp environment and insect infestation,
according to food officials.
Everything will be controlled by automatic digital machines
starting from food storage and distribution to vitamin mixing in these steel
silos, he added.
"Besides in Chattogram, silos are being built in Dhaka,
Narayanganj, Mymensingh, Barishal, Ashuganj, Maheswarpasha and Madhupur. Six of
the silos are for rice and two for wheat storage. Once completed, the food
grain storage capacity of the country will increase by 5,36,000 metric
tonnes," said Project Director Rezaul Karim.
Moreover, on the occasion of Bangabandhu's birth centenary,
small portable silos, with a capacity of storing 70 liters of water and 55
kilograms of rice, will be distributed to three lakh underprivileged families
in disaster-prone areas of the country under this project, he said.
In 2013, the World Bank funded the Department of Food to
construct eight steel silos at an estimated cost of Tk 1,916 crore. The project
was supposed to be completed in June 2020, but it did not happen.
When work began in 2017, costs escalated and the project was
further delayed. Later, in coordination with the World Bank, the project cost
of Tk 3 thousand 538 crore was fixed.
|Source: Online/KSU
Comment Now