The government should build small-scale storage facilities in places where cropping is concentrated to enhance food safety and supplies, address crises, reduce post-harvest losses and ensure better prices for farmers, said a top official of a food processor yesterday.

Nearly 25 percent of crops are lost or damaged in the post-harvest period because of the lack of proper storage facilities, said the official, Md Parvez Saiful Islam, chief operating officer of Square Food & Beverage Ltd.

He was speaking at a seminar on agriculture, food safety, life and nature organised by Bangla daily Bonik Barta at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.

Bangladesh can produce a maximum of 4.74 tonnes of rice per hectare, lower than that in China, said Sabbir Hasan Nasir, managing director of ACI Logistics Limited, which runs retail chain Shwapno.

Nearly 13 to 14 percent of the rice is lost in the post-harvest period for lack of storage facilities, and a lot of rice is hoarded informally, for which shortages sometimes arise in the markets, he said.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director and CEO of Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB), echoed the views of both Islam and Nasir.

Rahman also said his bank has already invested in the improvement of transportation and storage facilities for food grains.

M Safir Rahman, director (Corporate & Legal Affairs) of Quality Feeds Ltd, said apart from ensuring the right quantities of animal feeds, the quality of the raw materials also needs to be ensured for better nutrition.

He also said the imposition of a 5 percent advance income tax on the import of raw materials has caused the prices of poultry and cattle to go up.

Akhtar Hossain, member secretary of the National Citizen Party (NCP), shared a scenario of his hometown in Rangpur.

He said farmers in his district were forced to sell potatoes at half the production cost for lack of cold storages and due to the presence of a "syndicate".

He also suggested that the government build more cold storages and buy more paddy from farmers so that they get better prices.

Kazi Zahedul Hasan, managing director of Kazi Farms Ltd, said prices of goods in the poultry sector should not be fixed by the government, as such initiatives discourage traders from ensuring supplies.

Mostafa Kamal, chairman and managing director of the Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), suggested that the government improve the capacity of the Chattogram port and the navigability of rivers through dredging for cargo ships.

Forecasting of food supplies and storage is important, he said, adding that sometimes the prices of commodities increase because they are traded three to four times before reaching end consumers.

Commerce Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin said misleading data on food sometimes confuses the government and impacts the prices of commodities.

For instance, last year the price of potatoes in local markets went up to nearly Tk 90 per kilogramme due to the spread of misleading data on production and storage, he said.

He also suggested that entrepreneurs increase investments in the domestic food and commodities sectors, as annual sales were growing gradually from the current amount of $150 billion.

The adviser also said that small storage facilities were important at the farm level, and it was expected that the upcoming elected government would construct those for farmers.

Importers and traders of agri-products, growers and commodities traders attended the seminar, which was moderated by Dewan Mahmud, founding editor and CEO of Bonik Barta.