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Major rice mills of Bangladesh are gradually running out from the paddy processing subsector, a serious concern for national food security. This study investigated the paddy drying methods of 22 rice mills to device a sustainable solution for major rice mills. Weather dependency and high sun drying time (48–96 hours) of paddy are responsible for low capacity utilization of major rice mills. Despite of high demand, appropriate dryer size for major rice mills was still unexplored. Present capacity utilization of major rice mills (27.6%) can be optimized to 72.5% with a 12 ton dryer. Analyzing drying mechanism of recirculating dryers, the study also proposed for a single dryer for both parboiled and aromatic paddy rather than following existing practice. This will make mechanical dryer affordable to major rice mill owners and new investors in this subsector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]