Rice production falls in Kushtia

Load-shedding has cut fine rice production in Kushtia’s Khajanagar by two-thirds, with some rice becoming inedible.

Most of the factories are working with less efficiency or staying shut down, and the laborers are unemployed. According to Abdus Samad, owner of Swarna Auto Rice Mill, the production has declined to 30 tonnes per day from 90 tonnes even after using diesel, which increased costs considerably.

According to Jihaduzzaman Ziku, owner of Golden Rice Mill, when power shortage occurs during processing, paddy is spoiled, and there is more wastage and expenses. The authorities were asked by him to arrange uninterrupted electricity in food processing industries.

A truck driver delivering paddy from Naogaon complained of waiting for nine days as the production process had been interrupted.

According to Deputy General Manager of Kushtia Palli Bidyut Samiti Md Jahangir Alam, the district needs 180 megawatts but it received not more than 40-50 percent of its requirement for the last two weeks.

Touhid Bin-Hasan, Deputy Commissioner, assured that the authorities are making efforts to make electricity available for the rice mills and solve the problem shortly.