Paddy storage status at rice mill and farm household levels of Mymensingh Division in Bangladesh

Abstract

Long time storage of paddy is a concerning issue at farm households and rice mills of Bangladesh due to inadequate sustainable storage technologies. Hence, paddy storage facilities of 20 rice mills and 40 farm households of Mymensingh division were investigated following semi-structured question- naires to know the existing paddy storage technologies, problems, and future needs. Traditional gunny bags are used in rice mills for storing consumable paddy whereas 77.5%, 20%, and 2.5% farmers use dole, gunny bag and plastic bag, respectively. About 60%, 17.5%, and 7.5% farmers under the study use GrainPro bag, metal/plastic drum, and motka, respectively for storing paddy seed. Despite using preventive chemicals about 2.4%, 3.4%, and 3.3% paddy loss occurs during storage in automatic, semi-automatic, and major rice mills, respectively. To solve problem, about 80% of rice mill owners demanded for hermetic cocoon.