The country’s poultry industry is struggling despite having huge potentials. Due to lack of supply chain management, insufficient marketing strategies and illegal syndication, the sector is unable to show its real potentials. For this rising demand for protein, the industry concerned is stressing on immediate measures so that the country can meet the demand.
The poultry businessmen said, there are no statistics on the demand for eggs and meat the country needs daily, weekly or monthly, so there should be proper planning of production for the next five or ten years, proper feasibility studies are also essential for the rapid growth of the industry.
The government is eyeing to export eggs and meat after meeting the local demand by 2024. However, the promising industry needs good support from the government to ensure quality poultry feed, stop the outbreak of new diseases,and essential vaccine for the industry. It is to be noted, during 2007-2008, 60 percent of poultry farms and 70 percent of hatcheries and breeding farms were closed due to a bird flu attack.
Nahar Agro Group chairman, Professor Dr. Mohammad Shamsuddoha said, due to illegal syndication suddenly the price of meat and eggs goes down, which destroys the country’s small and medium farms. But we have kept surviving to ensure the growth of the industry. A 'push marketing' cannot ensure the growth of the sector, our combined efforts can ensure this. On the other hand, we have to be conscious about the negative propaganda against the sector, otherwise, people will mve away from consuming eggs and meat,” he added.
“If we do not raise awareness and bring our challenges, foreign countries like Brazil will try to export eggs and meat to our country, which may finally destroy the industry” he further added. Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University Md Ali Akbar said, raising of this industry would play a vital role in building a healthy nation. Nutrition sensitive economic growth is essential for future Bangladesh.
According to Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC), four decades ago, there were no proper statistics on the poultry industry, but at present, they have prepared statistics to ensure the sound growth of the industry. Based on BPICC, currently around 60 lakh people are directly or indirectly involved in this industry, the number will be 1.15 crore by 2030. The sector is having Tk35,000 crore in investments, by 2021 it will require a Tk 60000 crore investment.
World’s Poultry Science Association Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB) is the Bangladesh chapter of the World’s Poultry Science Association- the oldest association working on the development of poultry worldwide. Its president ShamsulArefin Khaled said, there are huge potentials to capture the global halal market by our poultry industry. Both the government and the poultry industry have to work together to achievie the goal.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data showed the country’s poultry farms are growing at a faster rate of 15 percent a year. The poultry sector supplies 36 percent of total protein intake through meat and egg consumption. According to the Department of Livestock statistics, the number of country’s commercially- reared chicken population rose from nearly 222 million in 2008-09 to 282 million in the last financial year 2018-19. The country will require 17 billion eggs, 2 million tons of poultry meat, 85.8 million day-old chicks, and 7.9 million MT of feed to meet the demand by 2021.
