Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim has said that Bangladesh has plans to export processed meat abroad through expansion of livestock production across the country.
The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the Livestock Services Week and Exhibition-2023 on the old trade fair ground at Agargaon in the capital on Saturday (February 25). The ministry organised the event.
Director General of Department of Livestock Dr Md Emdadul HaqueTalukdar chaired the event, while Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock DrNahid Rashid was present as special guest.
Additional Secretary of the ministry ATM Mostafa Kamal delivered the welcome speech, while it was addressed, among others, by Additional Secretary of the ministry Abdul Qayyum, Director General of Department of Fisheries KhaMahbubulHaque, Executive Director of ‘Pariprekshit’ of Bangladesh Television (BTV) Syed BorhanKabir and President of Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association, Mohammad Imran Hossain. Earlier, the minister inaugurated the two-day Livestock
Exhibition-2023 by releasing balloons and pigeons. After the inauguration ceremony, he visited the stalls of exhibition and talked to farmers.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, SM Rezaul Karim said that currently there is a huge demand for Bangladeshi processed meat abroad. “We have plan to expand the livestock sector across the country and export the delicious meat to many countries. In preparation for this, emphasis is being placed on the production of disease-free cattle. Mobile clinic has been set up in every upazila for the development of livestock,” he said.
Mentioning that the meat produced in the country is safe, the minister criticized those who claim that chickens, grown in farms, are harmful. Tested in the international standard laboratories by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), it has been found that broiler chicken is not harmful to human body in any way, he said.
He also said that an international quality laboratory has been set up under the direction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to test whether milk, eggs, meat produced in the country are harmful.
The minister further said that unemployment has reduced following development of the livestock sector. Entrepreneurs are created as well. Besides, the rural economy has been activated. Investors in this sector become entrepreneurs. “Thus, we are taking the poultry, dairy and livestock sectors forward,” he added.
About sacrificial animals during Eid, SM Rezaul Karim said that much earlier there used to be a tension before every Eid festival that the Quarbani (sacrifice) would not be possible if cattle did not come across the borders from India and Myanmar.
He said that in the recent past the livestock sector has developed technologically under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “We no longer dependent on livestocks on foreign countries now. However, one-tenth of the animals remain unsold in the markets at the time of Eid. This success did not come suddenly, it took years of research and lot of development initiatives.”
The minister informed that those who want to set up another factory in this sector, including poultry feed, animal feed, have been given tax concessions on the material they have to import. Those who want to set up factories in the country in the livestock sector have been given duty exemption on import of machineries. Agricultural loans are being provided to farmers at low interest rates and in the shortest time.
