Biggest Grain Warehouses in Upuldeniya, Buththala & Mannar gifted to the Nation

The Regional Development Bank (RDB) recently opened a warehouse in Mannar where farmers can safely store their harvest.

The project is operated in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank. Regional Development Bank was selected to manage these warehouses already commissioned in Upuldeniya, Galenbindunuwewa in the Anuradhapura District, Buttala in the Monaragala District and in Mannar with a 5000-10000 tons storage capacity each, where farmers in the village and nearby areas were given a place to store the harvest. These warehouses are equipped with a state of the art dryer,weigh bridge facilities and a laboratory to check the quality of the product.

In addition to giving a safe place for the storage of grains, helps the farmers to sell their harvest at a competitive price and also provides financial assistance should they require it.

Farmers can store their harvest in the warehouse until such time they find a favourable price for the product. Once the farmer finds a buyer, the warehouse immediately releases the stock of harvest.

The warehouse only charges maximum Rs 1 cent per month per kg for storing the harvest, depending on the type of grain (rice, maize, green gram, cowpea etc).

The warehouse in Buththala is the biggest warehouse under the project and is managed and operated by the RDB. Following standard protocols, at any given time the warehouse can store up to 20,000 tons of grain within its premises.

Another such facility opened in Murugan in Mannar and the project will once again be managed and operated by the Regional Development Bank.

Under the 2016 budget, approval has been granted for the construction of three more such facilities in Kilinochchi, Polonnaruwa and Embilipitiya. The Bank has also introduced a loan scheme for these farmers with an interest rate of 7% per Annum. The farmers can produce their bill of lading to the Regional Development Bank as an assurance and obtain a loan facility up to70% of the market value immediately.

With 268 branches located Island wide, focusing on developing the grass root level entrepreneurs of the country, the Regional Development Bank caters to over 30% of the overall Sri Lankan population and has a customer base of over 6 million.