Building food warehouse in Baniachong Upazila’s south demanded

The farmers’ community has demanded the construction of a food warehouse in the southern part of Baniachong Upazila of the district.

When Food Ministry Secretary Md Masudul Hasan recently arrived in Baniachong to inaugurate the paddy collection programme, farmers from Makrampur, Sujatpur, Mandari, Muradpur and Pailarkandi unions made this demand to him.

Farmers from those five remote unions said, “We cannot provide paddy to the food warehouse in the upazila headquarters in any year. Because the road communication system of those unions is very bad. It is not possible for us to bring paddy to the food warehouse in the upazila headquarters by vehicles. If paddy was collected during the rainy season, it would have been possible to bring paddy to the food warehouse in the upazila headquarters by boat. But the government collects paddy in the dry season. During that season, it is not possible to bring paddy by vehicles due to the underdeveloped communication system. Therefore, we the farmers of the five unions demand that a food warehouse be built somewhere between Makrampur and Pailarkandi unions.”

Upazila Food Controller Saiful Alam Siddiqui admitted to the Secretary of the Food Ministry that farmers in the southern part of Baniachong Upazila had raised a demand for the construction of a food warehouse in the area and said, “There are currently two food warehouses in Baniachong Upazila. One is in Baniachong South-East Union No. 3 of the Upazila Sadar, and another is in Markuli of Daulatpur Union No. 5. Each of these two warehouses has a capacity of 1,500 metric tons.”

Food Controller Saiful also said, “The target for paddy procurement in Baniachong Upazila in the Boro 2025 season is 2,256 metric tons (at a rate of Tk 1,440 per maund). The target for parboiled rice procurement is 9,138 metric tons (at a rate of Tk 47,000 per tonne) and the target for sunned rice procurement is 1,171 metric tons (at a rate of Tk 46,000 per tonne). The Markuli food warehouse collects rice and paddy from Daulatpur Union. In addition, the rice and paddy of the remaining unions are collected from the food warehouse of Baniachong Upazila Sadar. A total of 12,265 metric tons of paddy, parboiled rice and sunned rice will have to be collected from the food warehouse of Upazila Sadar, which is a big challenge for this warehouse.”