No food crisis or famine as govt has 20 lakh MT of foodgrains: Sadhan

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Tuesday assured that there will be no food crisis or famine in the country as the government has 20 lakh tonnes of foodgrains in stock.

"During tenures of previous governments, highest stock of food grain was 16 to 17 lakh tonnes. But, we have a stock of 20 lakh tonnes in government godowns now with a capacity of stocking 21.60 lakh tonnes. So, I can give you guarantee that there will be no food crisis or famine in the country," he said while speaking to media at Kishoreganj Circuit House after exchanging views with the Directorate General of Food officials.

He asked the DG Food officials to conduct the internal foodgrain procurement drive of the government properly with sincerity, so that farmers don't need to face harassment during supplying foodgrains.
The Minister said the government is constructing silos with a capacity of 5.5 lakh tonnes to stock more rice and wheat. Hopefully, the silos would be inaugurated by September or October this year.

"For the interest of farmers, the government has taken steps to build silos in Haor regions, so that they can stock their paddy. The project has already been cleared by the government and consultant has also been appointed. After completion of designing, the construction work would be started," he added.

Regarding the facilities of the silo, he said, "The farmers will go to the godown with wet paddy. There will be four driers in the silo. More than 30 tonnes of paddy would be dried and cleaned every hour and transported to the storage bins. Famers will get their pay receipts and collect their money from banks. We have a target to install 200 such silos across the country. The Prime Minister has already given approval for 30 silos."