The government is going to construct new warehouses and repair old ones soon to enhance the storage capacity of food, Food and Disaster Management Adviser A M M Shawkat Ali said yesterday. The initiative has been taken up since the existing storage capacity will not be enough to store the targeted amount of food grains. According to the CPD (Centre for Policy Dialogue) data, at present the government has 649 storage facilities having the capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of foodgrains. The government has targeted to procure at least 1.5 million tonnes of rice and paddy in this boro season. "I hope the initiative will help enhance the capacity of food storage,' Shawkat Ali was speaking at a dialogue titled 'Boro Procurement and Food Security Strategy an Actionable Agenda'. The CPD organised the dialogue where academics, farmers, rice importers and rice mill owners were present. Chaired by former finance minister M Syeduzzaman, the dialogue was also attended by Agricultural Adviser Dr C S Karim and Executive Director of Brac Dr Mahbub Hossain. Mahbub Hossain said since there will be a bumper Boro paddy production this year the government should take increase the food storage capacity. According to the CPD survey, the country is going to harvest 1.64 crore tonnes of rice this year. However, the Department of Agriculture Extension under the Ministry of Agriculture has estimated that the rice production might reach 1.76 crore tonnes. Last year total boro production was recorded at 1.49 million tonnes, the dialogue was told. CS Karim said he will visit Barisal region soon to assess fertilizer supply situation. He also said, "At present, the government distributes fertiliser from 20,000 points across the country.'