Shrimp production to be raised by 40pc to meet demand
Experts tell a national seminar
BSS
FAOs aquaculture division Chief Rohana Subasinghe said, The global demand for shrimp will increase and we might need to increase production by 40-50 per cent by 2025- from 6.7 million tonnes to 9 million tonnes.
At the same time, Bangladesh also needs to raise its overall shrimp production by 40-50 per cent in the next ten years in line with the global production trend, said the FAO official at the seminar, reports BSS.
Speakers including academicians, government officials and fisheries experts at a national seminar in the capital yesterday also stressed the need for implementing Better Management Practices (BMP) to raise shrimp production at least by 40-50 per cent in the next ten years.
Bangladesh now produces 1.40 lakh tonnes shrimp and prawn in a year and it may go up as high as two lakh tonnes by 2025 by implementing good aquaculture practices at the individual farm level, they said at the seminar held at hotel in Dhaka.
Department of Fisheries (DoF) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) jointly organised the seminar with DoF Director General Syed Arif Azad in the chair. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative in Bangladesh Mike Robson gave welcome address.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque attended the seminar as the chief while Additional Secretary of the ministry concerned Anisur Rahman also spoke as the special guest.
Lauding aquaculture contributions to meeting the UN Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs) of poverty reduction and food security, Sayedul Haque said the shrimp sector of Bangladesh is one of the key areas in terms of employment, income generation and earning of foreign currency. The majority of shrimp products for export come from small scale farmers, but they do not have the capacity to implement required bio-security
measures and better management practices, the minister added.
Meanwhile to raise the small-scale production of shrimp in Bangladesh a project has been jointly implemented by DoF and FAO in collaboration with World Fish and Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF). , The project is funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF).
The project, Building trade capacity of small-scale shrimp and prawn farmers in Bangladesh : investing in the Bottom of the Pyramid Approach , is being implemented in southern part of Bangladesh comprising of five upazilas under three districts such as Dumuria upazila under Khulna, Fakirhat upazila under Bagerhat and Sadar, Debhata and Shyamnagar upazila under Satkhira district.
The three years project that had started on October 2013 is scheduled to complete in June 2016. A total of 1000 farmers from 40 clusters are taking training under the project.
