The World Bank (WB) will support Bangladesh to establish modern warehouses to help the country build buffer stock of food grains for ensuring food security of its147 million people, a government official said on Monday.

SM Golam Kibria, senior official of Bangladesh's Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, told Xinhua on Monday that the multilateral bank also assured Bangladesh of its support in repairing the country's existing warehouses.

He said the assurance came at a meeting between visiting Vice-president of the WB for South Asia Isabel Guerrero and Bangladesh's Food Minister Abdur Razzak on Monday.

During the meeting, Kibria said, Guerrero suggested Bangladesh to submit a detailed proposal to the bank for its assistance to repair and construct modern warehouses including silo-styled go down.

Bangladesh's Food Minister Abdur Razzak said there is a satisfactory level stock of food grains in the country but it is not sufficient to meet possible demand after any major natural calamities.

"We need to boost food grains stock. But it is very important to raise capacities of warehouses," Kibria quoted the food minister as saying in the meeting.

Kibria said existing warehouses of Bangladesh all together have the capacities to preserve around 1.5 million tons of food grains whereas the country needs to build a stock of around 2 million tons of food grains to face any major natural calamities like cyclone Sidr in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2009)