�Pangas� farming shows prospect

Scopes created to earn foreign currency

Bangladesh can grab a large slice of the billion dollar global ‘Pangas’ fish market as breeding of Vietnamese White Muscle ‘Pangas’ shows a great prospect in the country.
Supervised by Harunur Rashid, Prof. of Fisheries Management Department of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), ‘Sarnolota Agro Fisheries’, a private farm at Fulbaria in Mymensingh, succeeds in breeding and nursing the fry of white muscle pangas.
The Managing Director of Sarnolota, Abdul Kadir Tarafder, collected the brood fish from Vietnam in 2011and then cultured it at the farm hatchery for about three years. Last year, the fish gave about 20 lakh fry. This year, they have commercially started producing and marketing the new variety of pangas fry here in Bangladesh.
The fish has a streamlined body, a dark grey colour on its back, a silver belly, wide mouth, and a long twin beard. The rapid growing fish has no odd flavour as it contains less fat. It’s feed conversion ratio (FCR) is 1.7, which is half of the Thai Pangas available in the market. It takes only one year to reach about 1kg weight whereas the Thai pangas requires two years for the same weight. The fish can also be cultivated in dense area (about one tonne per 4 decimetre).
Harunur Rashid said it can overtake shrimp as the leading frozen food export item as research has shown that Bangladeshi ponds and rivers are the most suitable place for raising pangas and it has a huge demand in the western countries.

 

�Pangas� farming shows prospect

Scopes created to earn foreign currency

Bangladesh can grab a large slice of the billion dollar global Pangas fish market as breeding of Vietnamese White Muscle Pangas shows a great prospect in the country. Supervised by Harunur Rashid, Prof. of Fisheries Management Department of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Sarnolota Agro Fisheries, a private farm at Fulbaria in Mymensingh, succeeds in breeding and nursing the fry of white muscle pangas. The Managing Director of Sarnolota, Abdul Kadir Tarafder, collected the brood fish from Vietnam in 2011and then cultured it at the farm hatchery for about three years. Last year, the fish gave about 20 lakh fry. This year, they have commercially started producing and marketing the new variety of pangas fry here in Bangladesh. The fish has a streamlined body, a dark grey colour on its back, a silver belly, wide mouth, and a long twin beard. The rapid growing fish has no odd flavour as it contains less fat. Its feed conversion ratio (FCR) is 1.7, which is half of the Thai Pangas available in the market. It takes only one year to reach about 1kg weight whereas the Thai pangas requires two years for the same weight. The fish can also be cultivated in dense area (about one tonne per 4 decimetre). Harunur Rashid said it can overtake shrimp as the leading frozen food export item as research has shown that Bangladeshi ponds and rivers are the most suitable place for raising pangas and it has a huge demand in the western countries.