The move is to encourage farmers to produce food, especially grains in large quantities with available space for storage to ensure national food security.

The construction of Silos will immensely benefit some selected places where farmers grow rice and maize in higher qualities.

Speaking in an interview with the media in Assin-Fosu on Tuesday, the Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for New Edubiase acknowledged the untiring contribution of farmers in feeding the nation adding that, the silos would guarantee them safe storage for their produce.

The Deputy Minister said government was gradually making agriculture the backbone of the country's economy with the needed investments in the sector and has also promised to continue to make available to farmers the requisite tools for their work.

The pledge is in line with the campaign by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to shift from the use of rudimentary tools, which were hampering growth, to the use of appropriate machinery.

The sector is a major priority for government hence the institution of the "Planting for Food and Jobs" (PFJ) policy to ensure food security, make farmers rich and create jobs and opportunities for the citizenry, he assured.

 "We have inspected all the Silos in the country and we can confirm that only one is working in Sunyani."

"Our checks have revealed that, important machines that dries and sort the grains were not functioning at the moment and for that matter, plans are underway to service such machines before the silos can be of use."

He explained that the facilities were meant to store grains only, with moisture content of about 12 percent so that it can be preserved for a longer time.

That not withstanding, the Minister said, 80 warehouses were being built in selected areas across the country to store foodstuffs.

On foodstuff preservation and supply, Mr Oduro said, the Ministry currently used warehouses belonging to the Buffer Stock Company to store food, but promised that the government will build more warehouses this year so that foodstuffs from the "planting for food and jobs" farm produce to be stored.