Business Desk :
The government has included the Cold Storage in ‘Green Category’ under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act.
The policy reform came into force following the recommendation of the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) at its 5th Private Sector Development Policy Coordination Committee Meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in the city recently, said a press release on Tuesday.
Chief Executive Officer of the BUILD Ferdaus Ara Begum hailed this effort of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Department of Environment that enables the entrepreneurs of the sector to contribute more to the country’s agro business economy.
Bangladesh has limited post-harvest storage infrastructure such as Cold Storages (current capacity 2.4 million MT in 393 cold storages all over the country against the demand of 4.5 million MT).
The shortage contributes to 40 percent post-harvest losses worth USD 430 million a year-mostly borne by the farmers, also discouraging processors from investment (valued at USD 64 million) while Bangladesh needs at least 6.5 million MT or 1,244 cold storages to strive to reach 10 percent cold storage infrastructure by 2022.
