Business Desk

If the government would provide policy support, eggs and meat could be provided at much lower prices to the consumers. Claiming this, the entrepreneurs demanded equal policy support to the livestock, poultry and fish farmers as the agriculture sector enjoys.

The committee members made these demands in the first meeting of the FBCCI Standing Committee on Livestock, Poultry and Fisheries on Saturday morning.

Poultry, cattle farms, fish and shrimp farms have to pay electricity bills at commercial rates pushing up the production and operating costs. With equal policy support as in the agricultural sector, it will be possible to meet the need of the protein at affordable prices.

While speaking as the Chief Guest, FBCCI President Md. Jashim Uddin said the government should provide utilities at a special rate to the livestock farms. To become a developed country by 2041, Bangladesh needs to export $300 billion, which may appear to be tough to achieve solely from RMG. Therefore, Fish, shrimp and meat should be included in the export basket. Here, it comes to government policy support, the President added.

President Md. Jashim Uddin said, recently there has been instability in the egg market due to a few unscrupulous traders. President urged to identify these dishonest traders to protect the image of the community.

Jasim Uddin advised the committee to work on logistics and supply chain to ensure fair prices for marginal farmers.

Earlier, Director-in-charge of the committee and Vice-President of FBCCI, Salahuddin Alamgir, said that, like agriculture, a 5 percent loan obligation for banks should be kept for the livestock sector. He also demanded to fix the dollar price at 100 taka in the case of imports for livestock. The Vice President also recommended the introduction of insurance policies at low premiums to protect the farmers.

Chairman of the committee and Executive Member of Feed Industries Association Bangladesh, Md. Moshiur Rahman called for strengthening the inter-ministerial coordination of government agencies. “Both the Livestock department and BSTI monitor different categories of standards of farms. Farmers have to suffer due to lack of coordination and different sets of standards between the two organizations,” he mentioned. Also, Md. Moshiur Rahman stressed on proper waste management to ensure the compliance of the venture.

Among others, Senior Vice President of FBCCI Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, Directors Mohammad Anwar Sadat Sarker, M.G.R. Nasir Majumder, Syed Moazzam Hossain, Bijoy Kumar Kejriwal, Abu Motaleb, Mohammad Iqbal Shahriar, Mohammed Bazlur Rahman, Tabarakul Tosaddek Hossain khan Tito, Md. Naser, Abu Hossain Bhuiyan (Ranu), Secretary General Mohammad Mafuzul Hoque, Co-Chairmen of the Standing Committee Imran Hussain, Md Mahmudul Alam and members were also present at the meeting.